Brokentale
by Moosabus
Summary: It's been a fear of Sans' for a while now. That too many resets could lead to the walls between timelines breaking down. He hasn't let it bother him that much - after all, it's just a theory, right? That is until one reset, where Sans finds that the people close to him are starting to remember what happened to them in other timelines... Frisk has lots to answer for. [Female Frisk]
1. Chapter 1

The sound of crunching snow. A flurry of white blocking his vision. The glint of a knife. Some confident yet ever-so-slightly trembling words. The silence. The pain.

Then more silence. Dust.

Papyrus awoke in a cold sweat, or as close to 'cold' as he could feel. He clenched his bed sheets to steady his quivering hands, images of the dream flashing through his mind. "Come now, you're not scared of a little nightmare, are you Papyrus?" He chastised the air. "Only baby-bones are scared by things like that! NYEH HEH!" He slid back down into the safety of his covers, staring at the wall across from him. Despite his big talk, he knew he wasn't going to be able to get to sleep again. That dream - he'd had it every night for the past week now. The one with the snow, and the voice, and the... Papyrus frowned.

He'd considered going to Sans multiple times now, but every time he'd forget the idea immediately. "What would Sans know, anyway!? All that lazy-bones ever does is lie around, he sleeps like a rock! You could probably swap him over with his pet rock and nobody could tell the difference!" Sans must have had wonderful dreams, if he could sleep so well. Papyrus was glad for him, yet... now that he thought about it, Sans always had bags under his eyes. Papyrus wondered if Sans was eating right, or maybe getting enough sun, but every time he would bring it up Sans would just make an awful pun or shrug him off. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense to Papyrus that Sans might be having the same sorts of dreams that he was having. Perhaps... Papyrus thought, perhaps he was worth a shot.

* * *

Sans chuckled, shovelling another forkful of pancakes into his mouth. "Come on, bro. You're not scared of a few nightmares, are you?"

Papyrus groaned and began to violently stuff the pancakes down his gullet. This morning conversation was not going how he had planned. "Are you insinuating that the great Papyrus cannot handle nightmares?! I can handle nightmares, Sans! Just - Just _these_ nightmares are so repetitive and so lifelike that-!"

The sharp sound of clattering cutlery made Papyrus stop cold. San's eyes had gone dark, he was quivering and Papyrus could have sworn, that for just a second there, his brother had had one... glowing blue eye...? He was quite taken back. This was the last reaction that he had been expecting. "S-Sans, what are you doing? Look, you scared your pet rock!" He scolded. "W-"

"What happens in them?" Sans growled.

"S-sorry?" Papyrus was confused. Just a moment ago his brother had been eating his food and laughing off what he was saying. Now he looked dead serious. What had he said that could have possibly triggered-?

" _What happens in your nightmares, Papyrus?_ " Sans was sweating, grinding his teeth together in such a way that it left Papyrus all the more confused as to what could have gotten his brother this riled up. His concern was beginning to shift off of himself and onto Sans - saying that he was worried would have been an understatement.

 _"_ Well uh..." Papyrus was flustered. "I just remember them in snippets, really... But the snippets I do remember are really vivid! It starts off with me standing in Snowdin, the area that gets really blizzardy, and then this shape appears..."

Papyrus paused, half expecting Sans to have another outburst. When he stayed quiet - too quiet - he continued. "They uh..." The more he thought about it, the more he could feel the color drain from his skull. "They take out a knife and... Uh. I don't really like what happens next. ... I don't think you would, either. You see, they sort of of... uh..." This had been a bad idea, Papyrus thought. He should never have burdened his brother with all this.

Sans shut his eyes, dead silent. When he opened his eyes, Papyrus saw that he had done a full 180 - the light was back to his eyes, and his composure was as normal as ever. Papyrus couldn't help but think that there was still something tense about the quietness in which he held his words, but he chose not to focus on that. Sans yawned, then spoke. "Thanks for the pancakes, bro. ... I'm going to go check up on something, okay? You stay here and finish your breakfast - I'll be back in fifteen minutes. That's no _fibula._ "

Papyrus scowled. That had been one of his brother's worst yet, but he wasn't in the mood to scream. "You need to go out somewhere?" Papyrus squinted. "... Don't you usually nap after breakfast?"

Sans chuckled a little half-heartedly. "Hey, some exercise might be good for these _bones."_

 _"Sans, I swear...!"_ Papyrus hissed.

Sans got up from the table, chuckling again. He didn't bother to push his chair in but picked up his plate. Papyrus blinked, and Sans, as well as the plate that he had been carrying, were gone.

* * *

 _He wasn't going to be 15 minutes._

Sans felt a twinge of guilt as he trudged through the thick snow. In most timelines, he would have been asleep right about now. A mesh of scenarios ranging from absolute joy to nightmarish scenarios and everything in between would always haunt his dreams. For the first couple of resets, he had liked to lie to himself, telling himself that they were just dreams, illusions. Sans no longer tried to fool himself. He knew that they were as real as the bones on his hand. He knew that they had really happened, that he had seen his brother die - but yet, it was funny. Even through all of the pain he felt when he thought about watching Papyrus turn to dust before him, the painful dreams had to be the ones he preferred.

 _Those_ weren't the ones that reminded him of everything he had lost.

Anyway, it was fine that he dreamt about that shit. He was used to it, but if Papyrus was having dreams about his own death, Sans was going to find whatever the cause was and crush it to dust. As for what had caused him to have such dreams, all Sans had to go on was a theory. It was a possibility that had been lurking in the back of his mind for a long time now. It was just a hunch, but if he was right and his theory did turn out to be correct, Sans knew that the underground was in more trouble than even he could have foreseen.

He just hoped that none of the others were having the same dreams.

Undyne was his first stop. He hadn't interacted much with Undyne outside of a few work-related passing-bys, but his brother kept him informed in exact detail of every lesson that he had with her. Of course, with the resets, those details had grown repetitive, but Papyrus was one of the only things that Sans couldn't grow tired of.

Undyne seemed very dedicated. Even if all of his knowledge of her was based purely off of his brother's ramblings and TV, Sans would have been lying if he said that he hadn't begun to respect her. Besides, the thought of anything happening to someone so close to Papyrus made his metaphorical skin _crawl._ He raised a bony fist and knocked on her door, praying that Undyne was a morning person.

After a few moments, the door flung open. Standing in the doorway was a half-dressed, bedraggled looking zombie of a fish-lady. She looked worse than Sans did when he woke up, which he hadn't known was possible. "What the heck do you want, you runt? Don't you know its 7 in the morning? _Some_ of us need our beauty sleep." She squinted at him. "Wait, I know you. Yeah, you're Papyrus's brother, aren't you?"

Sans was relieved to see that she didn't look quite so hostile anymore. He decided not to try out too many puns though, just incase he pushed his luck too far. He grinned his usual grin. "What gave it away?"

"Are you kidding me? Papyrus is always talking about you. Not to mention you two are the only skeletons in the underground - it's a little hard to _not_ to recognise you." She frowned, narrowing her eyes. "He must speak about me an awful lot too, if you were able to find my house. What do you want?" She yawned.

As she yawned, Sans felt a sudden urge to snuggle under his bed covers and just forget that any of this had ever happened. The world would be reset by next week. Perhaps Papyrus's dreams were just a fluke. Perhaps next time the anomaly reset, everything would be back to normal. On the off chance that it wasn't, though... "Well, look." It took a while for Sans to find the right words. "... This is going to sound weird, okay? Like - really weird. I just need you to go along with it and answer me, okay?"

"I want to get back to bed, and I'm really not looking for -

Sans cut in quickly. "Its not what you think, promise. I just wanted to know if you've had any weird dreams lately?"

Sans realised that that had sounded even worse out loud than it had in his head. Undyne was looking at him with a funny expression. "... Um... excuse me?" She grit her teeth, looking like a boiler about to burst. "Is that supposed to be some kind of messed up flirtation, or...?"

"Hey, calm down! That's not what I meant at all. Jeez." Sans put his hands up, shielding himself from any stray spears that just so happened to fly his way. "I mean like, repetitive nightmares, lucid dreams, the like."

Undyne raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "Come to think of it, I have been having some rather 'odd' dreams, yeah. How'd you know?"

"My brothers been having similar dreams. ... I think there might be something else going on."

"Like what?"

"Trust me, you wouldn't believe me if I did tell you." Sans had no problem in telling her. It wasn't like it mattered much. He just had better things to do with his time than to waste hours trying to explain the intricacies of space-time, or to convince people of the interweaving, delicate web of entropy and matter that it was. "Just to clarify, whats happens in those dreams of yours? Last question, then I'll get out of your hair, promise." _Wouldn't want to make it anymore tangled than it already is,_ Sans snickered to himself.

Undyne frowned. "Okay, whatever. Anyway, in these dreams, I'm standing at the foot of this cave. I'm pretty sure its the one near the hotlands on the way out from waterfall. I remember seeing it so clearly... I'm armour clad, adrenaline surging through my veins - I've challenged someone to a battle, or been challenged, I'm sure of that - and past that? ... Its really just a blur."

"A blur?"

"Yeah, I mean - I know what's happening. Kinda. I can piece it together, it's just like somethings not right, you know? No matter what way I look at it, no matter what perspective I take past that first bit of the dream, it just feels like there are multiple outcomes. Two opposing sides, good and evil, and I'm fighting against them both. One side resonates with a horrendous danger, like the weight of the world is resting upon my shoulders alone. Yet, my hope, my determination - it feels overwhelming, a strain on my body even through my dreams. The other side still feels noble, and it's trying its hardest, but... They seem lesser, somehow." Undyne seemed different talking about this. There was a glow to her that Sans hadn't seen before. "Do I win, do I lose in the end? It sounds strange, but it kind of feels like I do both." She slouched, rubbing her eyes with the back of her fist. "I don't know, thats about it. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about."

Sans had a sinking feeling in his stomach. If Undyne could also remember the previous timelines, that meant that the chance of his theory being correct had just increased ten-fold. The barriers between the timelines were beginning to wear away. It had been a nagging fear in the back of Sans mind since the first reset, but he had never allowed himself to worry. Each reset had always seemed so smooth. Nothing that mattered had ever changed and each timeline had been able to hold out on its own. Now though, it seemed that the sheer amount of resets, the jumps from beginning, middle to end were finally beginning to wear on the space time continuum. They were stretching and ripping it further and further like a well-worn toy and Sans knew that if he didn't do something, there would be a limited number of resets left until the boundaries of each timeline broke down completely. They would all merge together into one.

That would mean the end of the multiverse itself.

* * *

Sans trudged through the snow and up to his sentry station. His movements were autonomous, tired. The only reason he still came up here was because he had to know. He had to know of the humans motives. Were they okay, or were they going to slit his brother's neck without batting an eye?

He buried his head in his arms, slouched over on his sentry post. _"Don't you know how to greet a new pal?"_ The dialogue was rehearsed, like an actor who had been practicing their part for months. _"Turn around and shake my hand."_

His assumptions had been correct. He'd talked to Alphys, Mettaton, Asgore - even the punster who's name he remembered as Toriel. All of them had been having the dreams. There was not a doubt in San's mind now as to what was going on.

He didn't want to walk up to meet the human. He didn't want to repeat the same old dialogue, pull of the same old 'whoopee cushion in the hand trick' for the hundredth time. He wanted to sleep. _Maybe I should just let the multiverse die._ He thought to himself. _It'd be a lot easier than any action I could take that might_ maybe _save everybody. Nothing I do matters._ _Why does nothing I do..._ He felt something wet run down his face.

Tears.

Why was he crying? This wouldn't do if he wanted to make a first good impression. He began to wipe them away - but he stopped. _M_ _aybe I don't_ want _to make a good first impression._ He thought, gritting his teeth. _I've let them get away with this for too long. ... Maybe it's time I stopped pretending._

* * *

Frisk made her way through the snow. It was a route she had taken time and time again, and she moved with confidence.

 _One step in front of the other._

 _Step on the twig, thats it - now walk a little while._

 _The twig breaks._

 _Continue on, you see a dark shape behind the tree._

 _It's following you._

 _Its Sans._

 _Don't let it scare you._

Sure enough, the twig broke. She found herself smirking when she saw the shadow, also. Yep, everything went according to her plan.

 _Stop in front of the bridge._

She heard the slow footsteps behind her in no time. Soon, the figure would stop. They'd ask her to turn around and shake their hand. They'd introduce themselves as Sans the skeleton. Everything would go smoothly, like it always did.

The footsteps eventually slowed. Frisk could feel the presence behind her like she always did... but, wait.

What the -

She screamed as a barrage of bones shot up in front of her. She leapt back just in time, only for a second row to burst up through the snow behind her. She looked up to see three gaster blasters poised above her, ready to fire. Seething with rage, confusion and fear, she stood to face Sans, toy knife ready in hand. He had that annoying grin on his face, like he always did.

"Hey, kid." Sans stared at Frisk and yawned, stretching upward. "Sorry for the startle. Usually I'd repeat the same old dialogue and let you go on through, but... uh, there's been a change of plans. You see, there's something we need to talk about."


	2. Chapter 2

Frisk fidgeted, her eyes darting wildly. "Why should I talk to _you_ about anything? I should just reset right now!"

Sans chuckled, taking a step forward. "Yeah, I guess you could. But I don't think you're going to."

"Why's that? You're awfully sure of yourself for someone who's died by my hand dozens of times!"

Sans paused a moment. "... And you're awfully sure for someone who I've killed _hundreds_ of times." He shook his head. "You know what I think, kid? I don't think that you're going to reset. Not this time, anyway. I mean, why would you? You _thrive_ off of new experiences. The number of times you've messed with me, saving the world, only to erase it all and to kill us once again, or that one timeline where you thought it'd be funny to kill my brother and nobody else? ... Heh. I used to think you were just cruel. Now, I'm not so sure."

Frisk stayed silent, but Sans swore he saw something flicker on their face.

"I've got to hand it to you, there were times when you made me respect you, also - where you'd kill someone I loved only to go back, to save them. Did you do it because you felt bad? Or just for some sense of finality? ... Was it a mixture of both?" Sans sighed. "It doesn't matter what your motives were, kid. The fact of the matter is, you're someone who _craves_ new things. You live off them - it doesn't matter if someone you love is dying right before your eyes, it doesn't matter if you just betrayed a friend - all that matters is that you haven't _experienced it before."_ He laughed. "Judging by your expression, I'd say that this, right here, is new for you, isn't it? You know that my actions in front of this bridge didn't change, didn't falter- even after you killed my brother for that first time. So when I say there's something _important_ that you need to hear, you know I'm telling the truth. And you can't bear to miss out on it."

Frisk grit her teeth, tightening her grip around her weapon. "You..." She stared at her feet, quivering. "... You don't get it. None of you morons would."

Sans raised an eye socket. That... hadn't been the infuriated response he'd been pushing for. "Explain it to me then, kid. What could _possibly_ drive you to reset the world over and over again? To toy with peoples lives like some kind of sick game?" He could feel his voice rising with each word, each one louder and more coated with hatred and disgust than the last. "To make friends, get to know people, gain their love, their trust, give them what they've been after for _thousands upon thousands of years,_ only to _take it away?"_ His blue eye flared as he choked out the final words, and he felt his composure fall. "Why don't you just _explain_ to me why you keep. On. Fucking. _Resetting_!"

Frisk was silent. "It doesn't matter what I do." She murmured. "It doesn't matter if I consider you my friends, whether I grant you pity or kill you - you're all going to die, whether you get to the surface or not. I'll... She'll..." She just couldn't bring herself to say it. She bit her lip. "...You said we needed to talk?"

Sans took a moment to steady his breaths. "A-actually, kid - its about your resets."

Frisk frowned. 'My...?"

Frisk felt time stop around her. It went eerily silent - the howling of the wind stopped, as did the distant sound of footsteps. Everything was dark except for a small patch of snow from her to Sans. She'd experienced this before. "Yeah." Sans said. "You see, each time you reset, the strain on the space time continuum grows ever so slightly, wearing away at the walls of the individual timelines. it hasn't been much of a problem until now. You'd reset time and timeline again, and nothing would really change. Maybe a few small details or a strand of dialogue here and there, but it wasn't that big a deal. Now, however?" Frisk shivered as Sans' eyes went dark. "... Kid. You're resetting too much."

"Yeah, so? How do you even know?" Frisk scoffed. She wished that Sans would just get to the point, whether that was the point he was trying to make or the much more literal point of the knife she was twirling in her hand.

Sans growled. "You're not getting it, are you kid? People can remember what you did, or at least, they're starting to. The timelines are beginning to breakdown into one. Maybe a metaphor you might be able to wrap your head around is _'an amalgamate'."_ He saw Frisk shudder a little. "If the timelines continue to breakdown in this manner, it could mean the end of the multiverse... or worse."

 _Worse?_ Frisk thought to herself. _How could anything be worse than the end of...?_ "How do I know you're not lying?" She asked. "How do I know that this isn't just some ruse to catch me off guard and kill me? It wouldn't be the first time you've done it and I mean, killing me at the start of the game?" She laughed. "I wouldn't be expecting it, thats for sure."

"... Game?" Sans muttered. "Jeez, you really are twisted, kid. Trust me when I say this - If I was going to kill you, I could have done it five minutes ago. No, I just want you to follow me, go through with all of Papyrus's puzzles and play along - with one difference. This time, I want you to pay attention to how he looks at you and what he says. It'll be different, I assure you. You'll want to know why he's looking at you so... oddly, so let me tell you in advance . Its because deep within him, he knows he can recognise you. He doesn't know who you are, or where he recognises you from - he just knows that you hurt him and he'll be trying to figure out why. Why he thinks that you hurt him, why you would hurt him to begin with. And you know something, kid? I think those are perfectly valid questions. Why would you hurt Papyrus? Even out of boredom, how could you bring yourself to? ... I don't think I could ever understand."

Frisk frowned into the air, as though she were remembering something unpleasant. "I'll go along with your little act. Just unfreeze time and get those gaster blasters away from me."

With one click of his fingers, Sans resumed the world around them and gaster blasters retracted, disappearing into thin air. The bones disappeared into the earth. "You know where to start off then, don't you?" Sans pointed towards the lamp a few metres in front of them.

As Frisk sighed and slipped behind the lamp for the gazillionth time, she heard more footsteps. Papyrus. He made his way up the snowy path, moving in long, confident strides. "SANS!" He called. "SANS! ARE YOU UP HERE?"

"Sup, bro?" Sans stood innocently, his hands by his sides.

"DON'T 'SUP BRO' ME, SANS! YOU SAID YOU'D BE GONE FIFTEEN MINUTES, THEN YOU DISAPPEARED FOR THE ENTIRE MORNING! WHERE'D YOU GO!? YOU WEREN'T AT YOUR SENTRY POST EITHER! DON'T TELL ME YOU WERE SLACKING OFF AGAIN, LAZY BONES!?" Papyrus scolded.

Sans chuckled. "Sorry about that - I had some errands to run. Guess I got a little carried away. You could say that 'my heart wasn't in it'." Papyrus glared at him. "I 'didn't have the guts'."

"SAAANS!" Papyrus groaned. "AS IF YOUR PUNS AND YOUR LAZINESS WEREN'T BAD ENOUGH, IT'S BEEN EIGHT DAYS AND YOU STILL. HAVEN'T. RECALIBRATED. YOUR. PUZZLES! YOU JUST HANG AROUND OUTSIDE YOUR STATION. WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING!?

"Staring at this lamp. It's really cool. Wanna look?" _Please say yes,_ thought Sans.

"NO!" Papyrus exclaimed. _Dammit,_ thought Sans. "I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT! WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES THROUGH HERE!? I WANT TO BE READY! I WILL BE THE ONE! I MUST BE THE ONE! I WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN! THEN I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL GET ALL THE THINGS I UTTERLY DESERVE! RESPECT... RECOGNITION... I WILL FINALLY BE ABLE TO JOIN..." He stopped, frowning. "BROTHER. DO FORGIVE ME IF I AM WRONG, BUT... HAVE I SAID ALL OF THIS BEFORE? I COULD HAVE SWORN... YOU WERE ACTING WEIRD ABOUT THOSE DREAMS OF MINE, TOO ... SANS, IS SOMETHING THE MATTER?"

For a split second, Sans looked helpless. "N-no, bro." He forced out. "Nothings the matter. There's nothing you need to worry about, okay?"

Papyrus didn't look convinced. "OKAY, SANS. BUT YOU WILL TELL ME IF SOMETHING IS TROUBLING YOU, WON'T YOU? I'M YOUR BROTHER, AFTER ALL. IF YOU CANNOT TALK TO ME, WHO CAN YOU TALK TO? YOU'RE LUCKY - NOT EVERYONE HAS A BROTHER AS COOL AS ME TO TALK TO IN TIMES OF TROUBLE!"

"Yeah, I know, Papyrus. You're the best."

"EXACTLY! NYEH HEH HEH! I AM GOING TO ATTEND TO MY PUZZLES NOW, BROTHER! AS FOR YOUR WORK? PUT A LITTLE MORE... 'BACKBONE' INTO IT! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH! ... HEH."

As Papyrus walked off, Frisk emerged from behind the lamp. "So... Uh... He remembered?"

Sans didn't reply for a while. "... Yep. I think you'd better get going," he said, barely looking at Frisk. "You wouldn't want him to come back. Who knows what else he might remember."

Frisk thought for a few moments before she decided not to reply. Instead she turned and began to walking after Papyrus. "Actually... hey, could you do me a favor?" Sans voice made Frisk stop cold. "... Don't harm my brother. Or any more creatures in the Underground. Please. I don't know what your motives were this run - if you were going to kill everyone or save everyone, but whatever they were, push them aside. Cause' I'm really not in the mood to fight you this time."

Frisk paused for a moment. "Don't worry." She smiled and raised her hands. "These hands are dust free."

* * *

"SANS! YOU'RE HERE!" Papyrus cheered. It was always a pleasant surprise when Sans appeared next to him. It was out of the blue and a little creepy - like, Papyrus was pretty sure that he hadn't been there before, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that for once, Sans wasn't being lazy! What a glorious turn of events! "THIS IS WONDERFUL! I HAVE SET UP MANY PUZZLES THAT REQUIRE FINE TUNING, CALIBRATION, RECALIBRATION AND RE-RECALIBRATION! YOU WILL HAVE A FUN TIME, I AM SURE."

Sans chuckled. "I'm sure I will, bro."

"DID I TELL YOU WHAT I DID WHILST YOU WERE AWAY RUNNING YOUR 'ERRANDS', BROTHER!?"

"Nah, what'd you do?" Sans stretched out, relaxing. He already knew the answer - he'd heard the story dozens of times by now, so much so that he could practically recite it back to Papyrus. It was just nice to hear his brother talk.

"UNDYNE INVITED ME OVER FOR ANOTHER COOKING LESSON! SHE TAUGHT ME ALL THESE FANCY TIPS AND SECRET TECHNIQUES FOR COOKING SPAGHETTI, SOME OF WHICH I'D NEVER EVEN HEARD OF BEFORE! YOU KNOW, UNDYNE HAS A VERY INTERESTING WAY OF MAKING THE SAUCE? SHE'S SO PASSIONATE ABOUT IT, TOO! I MEAN, ITS RATHER MESSY FOR ME... BUT IF IT WORKS FOR HER, I SAY THE MORE POWER TO HER! I REALLY LOVE HER MOTTO OF 'LETTING THE FLAME REPRESENT THE PASSION', ALSO! I LIKE IT SO MUCH IN FACT, THAT I HAD TO TAKE NOTES! THEN UNDYNE GOT ANGRY AT ME BECAUSE SHE THOUGHT I WASN'T LISTENING AND SHE TORE MY NOTEBOOK TO SHREDS... BUT I DIGRESS! I REALLY FEEL LIKE I'M MAKING PROGRESS, SANS! UNDYNE TRIED MY SPAGHETTI THE OTHER DAY AND YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT SHE SAID!"

"Yeah? What'd she say?"

"SHE SAID I'D 'REALLY IMPROVED', SANS! A GENUINE COMPLIMENT! I MEAN, OF COURSE I'VE IMPROVED - AFTER ALL, I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS AND I AM VERY COOL. IT WOULD BE NEAR IMPOSSIBLE FOR ONE AS GREAT AS MYSELF TO _NOT_ IMPROVE! SO, AS I WAS SAYING ABOUT UNDYNE..."

Just then, Papyrus heard footsteps. For a moment, he thought it might be Sans - but that couldn't have been right. For one, he never heard Sans footsteps... And two, Sans was right next to him. Unless Sans had a twin, which was doubtful. He turned to see who it was and saw... something. Something jagged, something grey and hard - unlike anything he had ever seen before! He exchanged glances back and forth with Sans and back to the thing, their darting eyes getting more and more frantic. "SANS! OH MY GOD! IS THAT... A HUMAN!?"

"Uh... Actually, I think thats a rock." Sans said.

Papyrus felt his heart sink. "...OH."

Sans couldn't bear to see Papyrus disappointed, even if it was only for a second. "Hey, what's that in front of the rock?" He said hastily.

"OH MY GOD!" He whispered to Sans, "IS... IS THAT A HUMAN?"

"Yes." Sans whispered back.

"OH MY GOD! SANS! I FINALLY DID IT! I..." He stopped, squinting at the human in front of him. He'd finally found a human. He should have been ecstatic... but for some reason, he didn't feel happy. Instead, he felt some other emotion, something that he couldn't quite place. "S-SANS... W-WHY DO I FEEL SO FUNNY? WHY ARE...?" He looked down to see his hands trembling. The color of his bones had gone a pastier white than usual.

Fear.

Sans looked up at Papyrus with concern. "Are you okay, Paps? Do you want to go home?"

"N-NO! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, MUST CAPTURE THAT H-HUMAN! I MUST BECOME P-POPULAR, A MEMBER OF THE ROYAL GUARD!" Papyrus sounded unsure. He looked from the human and back to Sans one last time, beginning to frown. "S-SANS... CAN I TALK TO YOU... IN PRIVATE..."

"Sure, bro." Sans gestured at Frisk to continue on. Frisk could see the fury smoldering in his eyes as she walked by. She knew that she deserved his hatred, but what could she do? It wasn't like she had known that this was going to happen, that the monsters would start to the remember the crap she'd done. As interesting as it all was, it wasn't like this had been what she had wanted. Then again, she had said that about her first genocide run. Had she learnt nothing from her first encounter with Chara? That her actions had consequences? How could she have been so stupid?

"T-THAT HUMAN... THERE... THERE WAS SOMETHING ABOUT THEM..." Papyrus began, glancing at Frisk nervously. "NOW, I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING - YOU'RE THINKING I MUST BE A BONEHEAD, JUDGING THEM OFF OF A HUNCH. YOU'RE THINKING, 'PAPYRUS, WHAT HAS GOTTEN INTO YOU?' I KNOW IT'S CRAZY... USUALLY I WOULD THINK THAT EVERYBODY DESERVES A CHANCE, AND TRUST ME WHEN I SAY I'M JUST ASHAMED AS YOU MUST BE... BUT IT FEELS LIKE I _KNOW_ THEM SOMEHOW. IT FEELS LIKE THEY'RE GOING TO DO SOMETHING BAD, SANS. NO, ITS MORE THAN THAT - I _KNOW_ THAT THEY'RE GOING TO DO SOMETHING BAD. I'M NOT SAYING YOU SHOULD STAY AWAY FROM THEM... AND I'M NOT SAYING I SHOULD EITHER... I'M JUST SAYING THAT YOU SHOULD BE CAREFUL. ... PLEASE."

Sans stared up at his brother. He looked so _concerned._ It broke his heart. For a second, he wondered if he should tell Papyrus the truth. He immediately decided against it. If anyone or anything had to ruin Papyrus's innocence, he sure as hell wasn't going to be the one responsible. "I'm sure they're fine, bro. Try not to let them concern you too much, okay?" Sans already worried too much about Papyrus. The last thing he needed was Papyrus worrying about _him._

"Y-YOU'RE RIGHT, SANS! I'M SURE ITS JUST MY MIND PLAYING TRICKS ON ME! I SHOULDN'T LET IT GET ME DOWN - AFTER ALL, I FINALLY HAVE A HUMAN TO TRY MY PUZZLES OUT ON! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"

Sans chuckled, more to appease his brother than for any semblance of actual amusement. "That's the spirit, bro."

* * *

Frisk stumbled into Snowdin. Was it just her, or had those puzzles been particularly exhausting this time around? She assumed Sans must have consoled Papyrus, as apart from the odd stray look every now and then, the skeleton brothers had acted fairly normal. Papyrus had seemed a little less chipper than he usually did... but at least he wasn't trying to get away from her. She exchanged a few things at the depot box before walking into the shop. The items, surprise surprise, hadn't changed in the slightest.

One thing that Frisk found strange was that the rabbit behind the counter wasn't greeting her like she usually would. Instead she was glaring at her, suspiciously eyeing the items that Frisk was picking up. Frisk cleared her throat. "Is, uh... is everything okay?"

The rabbit jerked back from surprise and began to blush. Being called out had obviously flustered her. "U-uhm... Yes, sorry. H-how can I help you?"

Frisk frowned, picking out a few healing items and the next tier of armour. She considered upgrading her weapon, but that seemed to be what this rabbit lady was checking for. She doubted Sans would be too pleased, either. "... Just these, thanks." She handed the items to the rabbit, who began to check them off. Frisk realised her paws were trembling as she handed the change over. "Is everything okay?" Frisk asked, taking her money. "You seem a little jumpy, if you don't mind me saying."

The rabbit began to sweat, her eyes darting around the room. "Oh! Uhm... I'm terribly sorry. I don't know why I'm so nervous, to be honest. I wasn't like this before... b-before..."

Frisk narrowed her eyes. "... Before I came in?"

"I-I'm sure it's nothing personal! It'd just be a coincidence, I'm sure - but... Y-yes..."

Frisk took her stuff and left the shop without another word, the store bell clattering on her way out. The whole way down, from the far west of Snowdin to the far east, she had people giving her dirty looks. Most of them would dart their heads away the second she turned to look at them, but others just kept staring, not caring what she thought of them. It was unnerving. The only thing that stopped her from have a full blown panic attack was the fact that they were scared of her.

 _... As they should be,_ she thought.

* * *

Papyrus stood there in the howling blizzard. He knew that the human would have to come through this way, and with the cold incapacitating them and the difficulty he knew that they would have seeing, it would be a cinch to capture them! ... That was if he could figure out a way to see, himself. He tried to ignore the itch at the back of his mind that told him that he should be running.

A dark shape rose up on the horizon. A very... humany shape, perhaps? They approached but didn't come too close, which Papyrus was grateful for - but there was some morbid tension lingering in the air, as though he had experienced this very same scenario before. The white snow, the shadowy figure approaching... it was all uncomfortably familiar. "HUMAN." He began. "LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT SOME COMPLEX FEELINGS. FEELINGS LIKE... WELL. THE TERROR I FEEL WHENEVER YOU GET NEAR, FOR ONE... OR THE TERRIBLE ITCH I GET ON MY NECK AT AROUND THIS TIME EVERY DAY. DO YOU KNOW WHY I FEEL THESE THINGS, HUMAN? MY BROTHER SAYS NOT TO BE CONCERNED BUT ... I CAN TELL IT'S TROUBLING HIM, TOO. TRUTHFULLY, I... I DON'T THINK HE'S TELLING ME EVERYTHING." Papyrus looked down at the snow, shuffling his feet. "PLEASE... IF YOU KNOW ANYTHING AT ALL... IF Y-YOU DID SOMETHING BAD... PLEASE TELL ME. YOU SEEMED LIKE A NICE PERSON WHEN YOU WERE DOING MY PUZZLES, HUMAN, SO... WHATEVER IT IS... I THINK I CAN HANDLE IT." He looked up, smiling.

"... Papyrus." Frisk murmured. "What is the worst thing that you've ever done?"

Papyrus looked taken back. "S-SORRY? THE WORST THING...?"

"Let's say if the only way you could talk to your friends without them repeating the same thing over and over again was to hurt them... Would you do it?" Frisk couldn't bring herself to look at Papyrus.

"...O-OF COURSE I WOULDN'T! EVEN IF THEY COULD ONLY REPEAT THINGS TO ME, I'D PUT THEIR WELL BEING OVER MY CURIOSITY!"

"But if they couldn't remember you hurting them, if there were no consequences..."

"EVEN IF NO ONE REMEMBERS IT, THAT DOESN'T MEAN IT NEVER HAPPENED." For a moment, Papyrus thought that human had gone silent. Though as he kept listening he realised that he _could_ hear something - a very faint, feeble sound, drowned out by the roaring wind. The human was... sobbing? "...PLEASE... DO NOT CRY, HUMAN." Papyrus sighed. "I... I THINK I REMEMBER WHERE I KNOW YOU FROM, NOW. I DIDN'T WANT TO BELIEVE IT AT FIRST, BUT... WHAT YOU JUST SAID... YOU... KILLED ME HERE, DIDN'T YOU? YOU'RE THE HUMAN CHILD FROM MY DREAMS."

"Sometimes it was me." Frisk choked out. "Sometimes it was... the other me."

"THE OTHER YOU?" Papyrus pursed his imaginary lips. "W-

"She's not really me. Not really. But..." Frisk clutched a hand to her heart. "I can... feel her. Inside of me."

"...I SEE. WHAT IS THEIR NAME?" Papyrus asked. "I WISH TO HELP YOU, HUMAN."

Frisk seemed shocked. Papyrus waited tensely for her answer. He had managed to get through to her, hadn't he? She was going to say yes, he and Sans could help her work through all of this, his nightmares would go away and -

"There's nothing you can do to help me. All of you people, this world, _every world_... no matter what anyone does, it's already too late. I made my choice long ago, and there's no going back." Frisk's answer made Papyrus's face fall.

"EVERYONE DESERVES A SECOND CHANCE, HUMAN!" Papyrus insisted, but Frisk just pushed past him and kept on walking.

* * *

"Hiya, kiddo. Wish I could say it was nice to see you again." Sans greeted Frisk at his Waterfall sentry post. "So, what'd you think? Did everyone remember enough for you?"

Frisk scowled, clenching her knuckles white. "Let's just get this over with, skeleton. What are we going to do about my resets? I'd prefer to not stop resetting the world, because you people either get boring or die. Obviously, you don't want me to reset too much, because why? There'll be hundreds of Sans running around the place? The sky will fall? The multiverse will crunch?"

"Heh. Something like that."

"I don't like the idea of having to face hundreds of Sans clones at the end of a genocide run, so me continuing to reset isn't exactly desirable, either. So... what?"

"... Honestly? I don't know. I'll have to call Asgore, see if he can work something out with this whole... multiverse business. In the meantime, you can stay with Papyrus and I."

 _Oh._ Frisk shook her head. "I really don-

"That wasn't a request." Sans deadpanned. "Let me put this another way, kid. If I don't see you at our house in the next thirty minutes... you're going to regret it."

There was a click and everything went dark, and when the light returned, Frisk was standing alone.


	3. Chapter 3

_"Multiverses? Resets? … Breaking down?"_ Sans could almost hear Asgore drag a paw down his face over the phone. _"A…are you sure?"_

"I know I tell a lot of jokes, and maybe I don't act like I really care as much as I should…" Sans frowned. "Just trust me when I say that I wouldn't call you about something like this unless I absolutely had to."

He heard Asgore sigh over the phone. " _L-let's say for a moment that you're right. Should you not have told me sooner? Perhaps there was something I could have done?"_

"Every time I told you, you'd lose your memories the next time the child reset." Sans shrugged. "I guess I just… gave up. No, not gave up… a better way of putting it would be 'I stopped caring'. I'm sure there were dozens of resets where you knew of the child's power, either from me or your own experiences… it doesn't really matter how."

" _D-dozens!? How many of these resets have there been?"_

Sans had to move the phone away from his ear, the sudden shrillness of Asgore's voice cutting his eardrums. He was silent. "…Hundreds, or possibly thousands now, I don't know. I stopped counting about one-hundred-and-seventy-something in."

 _"You've had to see… everyone under my rule die… including your brother… thousands of times?"_

"Well… sometimes the child let them live." Sans murmured. "Hundreds of those times the kid was dying, also – the majority, really. But of course, they always came back."

" _I… I'm so sorry. That must have been awful."_

"Yeah. I guess so."

Asgore chose not to push the subject. " _If we can't kill the human and they can reset any time they want, then… How are we supposed to stop them?"_

"I don't know. We'll work something out. I don't think they'd ever give up… so we stop them resetting some other way."

 _"How many resets do you think we'd have left…?"_

Sans thought about this. In each timeline, Papyrus and the others had started having the dreams about a week ago, but as for how many timelines had been created and/or destroyed where they had had the dreams, he had no clue. He would have estimated it at about fifteen to twenty resets ago, because that was when he had first started noticing things.

Things like Papyrus rubbing the back of his neck, or glancing over at the front door of their house as though he were expecting some non-existent figure to knock.

They were small, barely a concern. Sans had figured that it was just some residue from the other timelines rubbing off on them and so, like an idiot, he hadn't thought to ask. Or maybe he just hadn't been bothered. He couldn't tell the difference lately. "I'm not entirely sure," Sans began, "but I'd say we couldn't have too many left. Five or so."

" _F-five? ... That doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room, if you don't mind me saying. What'd happen in those five?"_ Asgore asked.

"Well, I think people's memories would grow clearer and sharper, to the point where they weren't just limited to dreams and instinct. I don't know what might happen the timelines truly start to merge together, but it can't be good. There could be echoes of people from past timelines, or there could straight out be two Asgores."

Asgore chuckled. " _Two Asgores? That could prove troublesome."_

Sans was about to reply when he heard a knock from the door.

" _Oh? Sounds like you have company."_ Asgore said.

"Yeah, I uh… told the kid to come over. I'd prefer her to stay where I can see her, at least until this all blows over. Or the multiverse blows up. Whichever one comes first. Hey uh - Can continue talking about this in a bit?" Sans unlocked his door and began dragging himself downstairs.

" _Sounds fine to me. Good luck,"_ Asgore said. Sans hung up.

Papyrus's door crashed open. Sans was thrown back as his brother sped down the stairs, skidding on the landing. "WORRY NOT, SANS! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SHALL SEE WHO IT IS!"

"Uh, Papyrus, its ok-

It was too late, though. Papyrus had already flung open the door. "WELCOME STRANGER, TO THE HUMBLE ABODE OF…" His face fell a little when he saw Frisk. "OH. IT IS YOU, HUMAN. WHAT BRINGS YOU TO THE HUMBLE ABODE OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS AND SANS?"

"Sans told me to be here." Frisk mumbled. _Threatened me, more like._

"I SEE. WELL, FRET NOT! I, THE CONSIDERATE AND HARD WORKING PAPYRUS, SHALL FETCH HIM FOR YOU!" Papyrus stomped over to the stairs. "SAAAANS! ITS FOR YOU! UH… SANS, IF YOU DON'T MIND ME ASKING, WHAT BUSINESS DO YOU HAVE WITH THE HUMAN?"

Sans made his way over to Papyrus, gesturing to Frisk. "Come in, kid. Make yourself comfy." He turned to Papyrus. "The human is going to be staying with us for a while, Papyrus. She doesn't have a place to stay and all that." Lowering his voice so that Frisk couldn't hear, he added, "hey, you're not still concerned about them 'doing something bad', are you?"

Papyrus smiled warmly. "I THINK I'LL BE FINE, SANS. IT CAN BE A BONDING EXPERIENCE, RIGHT?"

Sans chuckled. "That's the spirit, bro. What made you change your mind bout' them?"

Frisk could see Papyrus falter a little, beginning to sweat. "UH... ANYONE WHO ENJOYS PUZZLES AND SPAGHETTI HAS GOT TO BE A GOOD PERSON! … THEM TOTALLY NOT KILLING ME HELPED, ALSO!"

"Huh. Glad to see you two are getting along well, then." Sans seemed oblivious.

 _Why doesn't Papyrus just tell Sans the truth? He knows that I killed him in another timeline. He even knows a little about Chara._ Frisk frowned. _They're both straight out lying to each other. This can't be healthy._

Sans began to climb upstairs. "Hey bro," he said, looking over his shoulder. "I'm going to go get some more sleep, okay? Can you take care of the human for me? Like... just make them up a bed and stuff."

"SANS, YOU LAZY BONES! YOU CAN'T EVEN STICK AROUND TO HELP OUT OUR GUEST?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

Sans stretched and yawned. "Thanks, bro," he said, shutting and locking his door behind him.

"THAT SANS..." Papyrus shook his head. He turned to face Frisk. "I'M AWFULLY SORRY ABOUT HIM. HE'S ALWAYS SO LAZY. I CAN BARELY DRAG HIM OUT OF BED FOR BREAKFAST IN THE MOR-

"Why'd you lie to him?" Frisk cut in.

"... WHAT?"

"You heard me. Sans asked you why you'd changed your mind about me, and you straight up fibbed." Frisk shook her head. "...He's going to find out the truth one way or another, you know. Would you rather you told him, or would you rather he found out you _know_ I killed you several times in some worse way? Which do you think he's going to take worse - hearing it from his own brother, or finding it out god knows how?"

"... YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, HUMAN." Papyrus sighed. "SANS WORRIES ABOUT ME. ... A LOT. HE'S ALREADY GOT A LOT ON HIS MIND, I CAN TELL. I DON'T KNOW HOW WELL HE'D COPE IF HE KNEW THAT I..." He gulped, taking a deep breath. "HE DOESN'T THINK THAT I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF. IF HE SOMEHOW SAW ME DIE, I THINK I'D UNDERSTAND. AND HE _DOES_ KNOW THAT YOU KILLED ME, DOESN'T HE? THAT'S WHY HE'S BEEN ACTING SO STRANGE."

Frisk looked away. For a moment she said nothing, but then she slowly nodded.

"I DON'T KNOW WHY OR HOW YOU - OR OTHER YOU -WOULD HURT ME, HUMAN. I'M SURE YOU MUST HAVE HAD YOUR REASONS - AND WAYS. YOU KNOW WHAT I THINK, THOUGH?"

"What's that?" Frisk mumbled.

"I THINK THAT YOU DON'T REALLY WANT TO HURT ANYBODY. I THINK... YOU FEEL LIKE YOU NEED TO, ALMOST." Papyrus paused for a moment, waiting for Frisk to respond. When she didn't, he continued. "HUMAN, THE WAY YOU SPOKE TO ME BEFORE, ABOUT HAVING TO HURT YOUR FRIENDS FOR THEM TO SAY SOMETHING NEW... THATS WHY YOU KILLED ME, WASN'T IT? I CAN'T SAY I AGREE WITH YOUR MOTIVES, BUT I WON'T JUDGE YOU FOR THEM. ONE THINGS GOT ME CONFUSED THOUGH. YOU ACT AS THOUGH YOU'RE CAUGHT IN A TIME LOOP OF SORTS. SURELY IF YOU JUST GOT TO THE END OF THAT TIMELOOP AND TRIED SOMETHING NEW ALONG THE WAY... SOMETHING DIFFERENT WOULD HAPPEN?"

"There's nothing left for me to try." Frisk murmured. "I've done everything already. I need you all to be happy, and I need to be happy with you... but either I don't get that happy ending, or I do... and you all die. The one inside of me takes control of me, and she kills you _all._ Every human, every monster. I've tried to fight her... but I can't. All I can do is reset."

"TELL ME MORE ABOUT THIS OTHER YOU, HUMAN. ... MAYBE LET ME SPEAK TO HER?" There was a note of fear in Papyrus's voice as he raised the idea. "OR... ON SECONDS THOUGHTS, MAYBE DON'T. JUST... AT LEAST TELL ME WHY SHE EXISTS WITHIN YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE?"

"Her name is... Chara." Frisk spoke like she had just downed a glass of vinegar. "She exists because I was curious. She exists because I made a mistake. She exists because I let her exist. She will always exist in me, because I was foolish and I paid the price."

"CHARA? I... SEE. I WILL ADMIT THAT I'M NOT ENTIRELY SURE WHAT THAT MEANS, THAT YOU 'MADE A MISTAKE'... BUT I WILL SAY THIS. MAKING MISTAKES DOES NOT MAKE YOU A BAD PERSON. EVERYONE MAKES MISTAKES - EVEN THE GREAT PAPYRUS, NOW AND THEN - AND FROM THEM, YOU LEARN AND YOU GROW."

"Not in this case." Frisk shook her head. "Look... Sans asked you to make me up a bed. Can we focus on that for the time being? ... I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"...OF COURSE, HUMAN! DO YOU PREFER ONE PILLOW OR TWO?"

* * *

The moment Sans locked the door behind him, he pulled out his cellphone and dialed Asgore. "Hey, fluffybuns. I can talk now."

" _Sans! I was wondering when you were going to call again... Listen, I've been thinking._ _Maybe I should come over and try and talk to this human child? She's not dangerous right now, is she?"_

"Nah, thats..." Sans began. The more he thought about it, the better the idea resonated with him. "... Actually, that might be for the best. The three of us combined should be able to think of something."

" _You... me... and who? Papyrus? ... I really don't think your brother should be a part of-_

 _"_ No, I'm talking about the kid. She should be a part of this also."

Asgore was silent for a while. " _... Well... okay, if you're sure... I'll be over in a bit. You're still living in the issued house, right?"_

 _"_ Yep." Sans confirmed. There was a reason that his and Papyrus's home was the largest in all of Snowdin. You didn't just get such a nice place by showing up one day. As the royally appointed monster chosen to pass judgement and to guard the kings chamber, there were certain... things that he was entitled to. This home, with two bedrooms, a kitchen and a hidden work space out back was just one of those things. "Anyway, I'll let the kid know that you know what you know."

" _Grand! See you soon."_ Asgore ended the call.

* * *

 _"_ Hi, are you Frisk? Its a pleasure to meet you. I'm-

"Asgore. Yeah, I know."

"Oh! Y-yes, of course you know who I am. How silly of me." Asgore blushed, wiping some sweat off of his browline.

"WOWIE! ASGORE?! THE KING HIMSELF HAS CHOSEN TO VISIT ME?! WHY, I'M FLATTERED!" Papyrus gaped at Asgore,

Asgore made his way into the house, looking around. His eyes fell on the taller skeleton by the couch. "And you must be Papyrus! Uhm... Sorry, I was actually looking for your brother. Is he around?"

"SANS, WHY ARE YOU SO _POPULAR_ TODAY? IT ISN'T FAIR!" Papyrus grumbled.

"I'm sure its just work related, bro."

Asgore turned at the voice to see Sans leaning against the wall by the kitchen. _Thats funny..._ he thought, furrowing his brow. _I could have sworn he wasn't there before... Did he teleport? I guess I didn't appoint him as judger of souls for nothing, but... still..._ He shuddered a little. "So, uh... where abouts are we going to do this?" He smiled awkwardly, looking from Sans, to Frisk, to Papyrus.

"Uh... I was thinking my room." Sans suggested. He turned to acknowledge Papyrus. "Hey, bro - so Asgore, the human and I have something to discuss - its about the human souls, very official diplomatic business - we should be done in about half an hour. Do you think you could stay in your room until then?"

"HM... YES, THIS IS A TASK THE GREAT PAPYRUS CAN FULFILL." Papyrus squinted at Frisk. "GOOD LUCK WITH THE... DIPLOMACY, I HOPE YOU WORK SOMETHING OUT!"

Sans chuckled. "Thanks, bro. I owe you one."

* * *

"Does anyone in here have any good ideas?" Frisk sighed. This wasn't going well. All of Sans' ideas had been disregarded almost as soon as they had been brought up and she was pretty sure that even if Asgore _did_ have any ideas, he was too scared to bring them up. He kept glancing at her periodically, as though she were going to lunge at him without warning. _I might have a demon inside of me but I'm not unstable, you know._

For a while, there was silence. Then Sans began to speak.

 _"_ You know, a long time ago, back when I wanted to be the next royal scientist, I had all of these notes..." Sans murmured. "I remember writing about anomalies and how their existences altered spacetime. How... if someone or something became an anomaly and disappeared, anything in the world that that person had done would remain the same. The void that they had left would be filled by the space time continium. Things would go on as normal, with or without them... as though they had never existed. Similarly, if you destroyed an anomaly that had spawned, whether because of an error in spacetime or... some other reason - let's say an extraordinary amount of **determination _-_** any action that it had caused would vanish. It would be almost as though... that _anomaly_ had never existed." He looked through Frisk, his eyes dark. "... You know what I mean... don't ya, kid?"

Frisk felt a chill run down her back.

"W-wait a second!" Asgore intervened. "Surely that isn't necessary! You yourself said that she couldn't even be killed!"

Sans grit his teeth. "... Not unless she wants to die, no."

"Let's think of some less violent way to deal with this, okay?" Asgore pleaded.

"I don't see what the issue is. You get your seventh soul. The monsters go free. The multiverse fixes itself. Nobody else has to die." Sans scoffed, his voice like acid. He turned to Frisk. "The way I see it, it's a win-win scenario. Haven't you experienced enough? Hurt enough people? ... Please, I'm giving you a chance to end all that. All you have to do is to just. Stay. _Dead_."

Frisk gulped, too nervous to respond. Asgore was equally disturbed, staring at Sans with shock and some careful reconsideration of the monster he had thought his Judger to be. Although she didn't really want to die, Frisk found herself thinking. Would such a plan even work? Would Chara _let_ her die? Chara had only awoken because of her determination, so... maybe she wouldn't be able to stop her from dying if she really chose to die. Frisk hadn't thought about it until now, but now that she did, it made sense. Perhaps it _was_ time to give up, if she was giving up for the ones she loved. At least she wouldn't have to live with knowing that she was on the surface and they were still trapped underground, rotting slowly. She wouldn't have to live with the fact that everyone that she had ever known was dead by her hands. Perhaps this way was better. Perhaps this was worth a shot.

"A-are you out of your mind?" Asgore seemed to snap out of it. "That is _not_ going to happen! As your king-

"No, it's okay." Frisk cut in. Her response seemed to baffle Asgore, who spluttered, searching for the right words. Taking advantage of the moment, Frisk looked at Sans. Then, half out of respect and half to spite him, she beamed. "Do it."

* * *

 **Authors note: Don't think this is the end!**


	4. Chapter 4

Papyrus paced his room, arms crossed behind his back. Something just wasn't adding up.

Even if Sans knew about Frisk killing him, even if he knew about the time loop that Frisk was caught in... why would he meet with Asgore? Sans was the kind of monster that, when he did finally decide to do something, liked to take matters into his own hands. There was something else going on here, something that people had been hiding from him for too long, and Papyrus intended to find out what.

He opened his door slowly, making sure it didn't creak. He tiptoed down the hall towards Sans room and stopped just left of the door, pressing himself up against the wall. He could hear voices through it - muffled, but intelligible, nonetheless.

 _"You're letting me...?"_

 _"Y-you can't possibly be serious, child! Y-you're just going to let him?"_

 _"... Thank you. You have no idea how many resets I've waited to hear you say that. "_

 _"You're sure the multiverse will fix itself?"_

 _"Pretty sure, yeah. Even if it doesn't, at least you can't hurt anyone else. Papyrus... Undyne... Alphys... Mettaton... Everyone. They can all get on with their lives. And you won't be around to reset and make the situation worse. To toy with our lives and ruin everything for everyone."_

If Papyrus had had blood, it would have run cold at what he heard next.

" _... You'll stay_ ** _dead_** _though, right?"_

The door knob was the thing Papyrus tried first. It rattled and came off in his fist, but the door wouldn't budge. If it hadn't been for the sounds of charging gaster blasters that he could hear through the walls, Sans no doubt would have heard his brother's frantic attempts to get in. Papyrus began to bash and scrape the walls. "SANS!" He yelled. "PLEASE, OPEN THE DOOR, BROTHER!" It was no use.

Papyrus looked around for something, anything he could try - but unless he wanted to try screaming again, he knew he was out of options. Those wretched things... he was going to have to use them.

Within seconds, he'd summoned two gaster blasters of his own. They reduced the door to splinters in less than that. "STOP, SANS!" He screamed, watching in horror as the four gaster blasters that Sans had aimed directly at Frisk prepared to fire. They were probably less than half a second away from obliterating her when Papyrus's own gaster blasters destroyed them. "WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU THINKING!?" He recalled the wretched blasters and rushed over to Frisk, cradling her in his arms.

He was half way through helping her up when he realised that Sans was staring at him with one glowing blue eye. "Let go of her, Papyrus!" Sans growled.

 _"_ I CAN'T DO THAT, SANS!" Papyrus shook his head.

Sans summoned two more gaster blasters. He seemed to ignore the fact that Papyrus was there and aimed them at Frisk regardless. "Its for the good of the underground! You wouldn't understand!"

"YOU'RE RIGHT, I DON'T UNDERSTAND. WHAT I _DO_ UNDERSTAND THAT YOU'RE POINTING TWO DEADLY WEAPONS AT YOUR OWN BROTHER - AND AT A CHILD THAT HAS DONE NOTHING WRONG!" Papyrus looked up at Sans, his eyes pleading. "PLEASE, JUST... PUT THE GASTER BLASTERS AWAY!"

"You don't know _what_ she's done! Shes-

"KILLED ME?"

Sans froze. "H-how do you-

"YOU ACT LIKE I AM NOT SMART ENOUGH TO PUT THESE THINGS TOGETHER, OR THAT I AM CLUELESS AS TO WHATS GOING ON AROUND ME!" Papyrus hugged Frisk close. "YOU'RE SO CONCERNED FOR ME, YOU THINK THAT THE MOMENT I FIND OUT THE SLIGHTEST THING THAT _YOU_ DON'T WANT ME TO FIND OUT, I'M GOING TO SHATTER! I GET IT, SANS - I COULDN'T BEAR IT IF ANYTHING HAPPENED TO YOU, EITHER. BUT SANS - MAYBE I DON'T NEED YOUR CONCERN! MAYBE I DON'T _WANT_ IT! NOT IF YOU'RE GOING TO USE YOUR LOVE FOR ME AS AN EXCUSE TO HURT OTHERS!"

Sans felt dizzy. Was this a dream? This had to be a dream. "I-it's not just you!" He choked. He could feel his eyes beginning to water. "Everyone, all of my friends, everyone I know and love - I've had to watch them die again and again, all because of this little freak! If she's not killing someone I know, she's getting us to the surface - only to reset _again!_ Don't you get it? Nothing I, or anyone else does, even _matters_ anymore! It's all _pointless!_ If that wasn't bad enough, each time she creates a new timeline, she brings the multiverse closer to destruction! Those dreams you've been having? No coincidence - they're what happens when you mess with space time too much and the timelines begin to fucking _melt together!"_ Sans crumpled to the ground, tears gushing down his face. He buried his head in his knees, his breaths coming out in long, shuddering gasps.

"I THINK..." Papyrus stared at his brother. The sight made his heart hurt. "I THINK THAT YOU'RE WRONG. ABOUT THE HUMAN."

"H-how can you _say_ that?" Sans gasped, blinking out more tears that he was desperately trying to wipe away. "How can you be so _good_ all the time? I just don't get it..."

"IN ANY OF THESE SO CALLED 'RESETS'... HAVE YOU EVER ONCE TRIED TO TALK TO THE HUMAN? TO UNDERSTAND WHY THEY MIGHT BE DOING THIS?" Papyrus rested a hand on Frisk's head, ruffling her hair a little. "OR DID YOU JUST ATTACK THEM?"

"I-its obvious why they're doing it! Its because they're a disgusting, vile _abomination._ T-they shouldn't even exist!" Sans managed to spit - although he didn't sound as sure as he had been.

"I TALKED TO THE HUMAN FOR JUST A LITTLE BIT, AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT I FOUND OUT? I FOUND OUT THAT SHE ONLY RESETS, THAT SHE ONLY DOES CRUEL THINGS BECAUSE IT'S THE ONLY WAY SHE CAN EVER EXPERIENCE SOMETHING NEW! ITS THE ONLY WAY SHE CAN GET A DIFFERENT OUTCOME!"

"Do you know how _false_ that sounds? She probably lied to you, Paps. Sounds like she got you good, too." Sans sighed. "Even if she is telling the truth, what kind of sick, twisted bastard would you have to be to hurt your friends _?_ I can remember every time line and I'd never do something so _sociopathic._ "

Frisk winced.

"HONESTLY... I DON'T AGREE WITH HER MOTIVES EITHER." Papyrus sighed. "I THINK SHE'S JUST DESPERATE FOR A WAY TO SAVE EVERYONE. SHE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO, OR SHE DOESN'T THINK IT REALLY MATTERS. SHE JUST GETS THE SAME OVERALL OUTCOMES, IN THE END."

"If she's so desperate to save everyone, why would she save everyone and then _reset?"_ Sans hissed.

"...Don't you remember?" Frisk murmured.

The ambiguity and out-of-nowhereness of her words confused Sans. "Remember...? What are you _talking_ about, kiddo?"

"Every time I got you to the surface... I'd kill you all. When you least expected it, I'd stab you or bash your heads in. You, Sans... I'm losing track of the number of times you struggled to defend the surface from me, to stop me from taking away everything once again. I've lost track of the number of times you've asked me the question... 'why?' as the life drained from your eyes."

Sans shivered a little at the image. He looked up, his gaze steely. "... I might have to ask that question now, kid. Why _would_ you kill everyone you wanted to save so badly?"

"ACTUALLY, I THINK I CAN ANSWER THAT ONE." Papyrus said. "THE HUMAN SAID SHE HAS THIS OTHER PERSON INSIDE OF HER? SOMEONE THAT SOMETIMES TAKES CONTROL WHEN SHE RESETS. THEY TAKE CONTROL OF HER WHENEVER SHE GETS US TO THE SURFACE AND THEY'RE THE ONES WHO... WELL, YOU KNOW. SHE SAYS THEY EXIST BECAUSE OF A MISTAKE SHE MADE, ALTHOUGH I'M NOT TOO SURE WHAT THAT MISTAKE MIGHT BE."

Asgore, who had up until this point been cowering in the corner, now frowned. He got off, dusting himself off. The speed at which he regained his composure was almost comical. "This... other person. Did she give any other information about them that could help us to identify them? That is... assuming that the human was telling the truth, of course. Anything - an appearance, a motive, a name..."

"I THINK THE HUMAN CALLED THEM... WHAT WAS IT? OH YES - CHARA."

Asgore went pale, stumbling back. He began to tremble. "C-Chara? N-no... That can't be possible! Theres no way that the human could possibly know that name, let alone the fact that the idea of Chara hurting anyone is completely ridiculous-!" He was pacing back and forth now, grabbing clumps of the fur on his head and pulling. "I warn you - _all of you -_ if this is some kind of joke, I'll h-have you all..."

"WHO'S CHARA?" Papyrus asked.

Sans frowned. He could have sworn that he'd heard the name vaguely somewhere before...

"Sh-she's my daughter... or, not really - she's more of my _adopted_ daughter. Even that's not right - she _was_ my adopted daughter. But she died _years_ ago! Why, I'd say there was barely a monster in the kingdom _left_ take for Gerson who could remember her, and even if they did, their memories would be so aged that they'll be forgetting her soon!" Asgore suddenly seemed as though he had aged a thousand years himself. "H-human, if what you're saying is true and Chara is within you somewhere... why? Why does she insist on hurting others? ... Is she angry? T-tell her I love her, would you?"

Frisk bit her lip, looking up at Asgore with mournful eyes. "I... I can't. I'm sorry. We don't really talk much... it's more of just a presence, and when we do talk, they're... they're not nice things. As for why she hurts others... I... don't know. I think she just... enjoys it, to be honest."

Before Asgore could reply, Sans began to laugh. It started off as a low pitched chuckle but escalated quickly into full blown - what Frisk would have called manic - laughter. "So, kiddo. It wasn't you that I was seeing when I had to watch you skewer my brother. At least not most times. Even those few times it was, you weren't doing it out of 'LOVE' - you were just doing it out of 'love'. Desperation. Determination. Hah - whatever you want to call it." He began to speak slower, his eyes pitch black. "So... tell me, human - whatever you are - what about the first time? What was your honorable, good intentioned motive _then_? When you made that first kill and gained those first few execution points, surely you weren't possessed or 'desperate'. What about that so called 'mistake' that you made? I, for one, am quite interested to know what that _was_."

In that instant, Frisk could feel all eyes in the room on her. The one thing that she could never admit to Sans, the one thing she couldn't tell these people - and Sans was going to force her to spit it out in front of _all of them._ Her anxiety was overwhelming, yet... She could feel something deep within her could feel the force start to push her into the back of her own mind, replacing her consciousness and memories with its own. She fought, struggled to regain control - but in her current state of mental vulnerability, there was nothing much she could do.

Frisk's little finger twitched without her command.

The rest of her hand followed suit, then her toes, feet, arms, legs and face. Frisk's heart sank as she felt every muscle in her body come to life.

Then, she heard herself start to laugh. It was much more high pitched than her normal voice and had a macabre echo to it. From her subconscious, it sounded like something not quite real, like something out of a dream. _Chara._ "Oh... Sans..." She cackled. "Don't get so angry at Frisk. I mean, you were going to attempt to _kill_ her? Really? I would never have allowed that, you know. You're lucky your brother intervened when he did - or you'd all be _dead_ right now." She sighed, curling her hair with a finger. "You really should work on controlling that feisty temper of yours - _She's_ not the one who killed your brother all those hundreds and hundreds of times - but that doesn't matter to you, does it? What matters to you is the _quality_ of the murder, not the quantity. I killed your brother because I just felt like it, and then sometimes Frisk would kill him because she was just so _desperate_ to live her life, to have her own _choices._ Stupid little bitch can't accept the consequences of the choice _she's already made."_

The room stood, ready to confront whoever it was stood before them. At a glance, it was obvious - this was _not_ Frisk. "What does that mean? The choice she already made?" Sans demanded.

" _Cripes,_ you're stupid! Do I need to spell it out for you boneheads! Maybe it's the fact that the very first time she destroyed the world, she cried little a bitch and begged me to recreate it! I took her soul as payment for every world you've lived in since, even though _she_ was the one who originally started this whole thing!" Chara threw her head back and howled with laughter at the looks of horror and realisation beginning to settle on the faces before her.

"When...?" Sans whispered. "The first time, when did you fully take her over? I mean to the point where she couldn't fight you out anymore?"

"I'd say that would have been juuuuust before fighting Undyne." Chara giggled. "Of course, we had a few hiccups here and there - like, in some timelines, she'd fight _really_ hard. And I do mean _really -_ she almost took me over once or twice when we were fighting Mettaton. The little skank messed up my entire genocide run, she did. I was still able to _kill_ him though. _Every damn time."_

Sans shut his eyes. Through her stolen eyes, Frisk could see that he was trying to steady his breathing. "... I see. So when Frisk fought Papyrus for that first time..."

 _You can't tell him!_ Frisk screamed from the inside of her skull. She raked and bit at the strands of her conscious, wrestling for control harder than she thought she'd ever had. _Please!_ This only made Chara laugh harder. " _Thats right! Dingdingding, you get a gold star!_ When Frisk killed your brother that first time, she knew _exactly_ what she was doing!"

The looks of betrayal on the faces before her were too much for her to bear. In a moment of pure desperation, Frisk did the only thing she could.

 **She reset.**

* * *

 **Authors Note: sorry for shamelessly shoving my headcanon of Papyrus being able to summon gaster blasters but not wanting to unless he absolutely must down your throats**

 **On another note: thank you all so much for the feedback! Its been overwhelmingly positive thus far. I only hope I can keep providing chapters that you guys do enjoy, because I do have some interesting stuff planned... at least in my opinion. I hope you guys think so too! C:**


	5. Chapter 5

The human emerged from the ruins. She stumbled through the snow, her eyes red and puffy from crying. Her sadness had both distressed and confused Toriel, who had asked her time and time again what was wrong. She'd offered her not just one, but _two_ slices of butterscotch cinnamon pie, cooing over her and offering her cuddles - all of which she had declined.

" _Is it... because of what you did to me?"_ Toriel had said.

" _How much do you remember?"_

Toriel had paused, looking at her solemnly. "... _All of it."_ The words had sent shockwaves of new sadness rippling through Frisk. _"Thats in the past though... right? I don't see a murderer before me right now. I see a little girl crying her eyes out."_

 _"I'm glad it worked then,"_ Chara had cackled, shortly before driving her knife deep into Toriel's chest. She had heard Frisk's screams, to which she had cooed, spinning the knife in her hand. " _Frisk, did you really think resetting would make me go away_ _? I can take control of your soul any time I want, remember...?"_

Chara stepped over the stick and kept walking.

It didn't break.

Nor did she see the shadow flicker behind the trees.

As she approached the gate, she found out why that was. Sans was just... standing there, waiting for her. She approached him apprehensively, half expecting a flurry of bones to rush her way.

They didn't.

Instead, Sans looked straight at her. His eyes were the same ones of judgement that she had seen time and time again inside of the judgement hall, brooding and glassy. "So... You reset." His voice was resigned. "We could have lived happily on the surface, couldn't we kid? You could have had your happy ending, we could have had all our dreams come true ... and you flushed it down the drain." He sighed. "Do what you want. I'm beyond caring. Just tell me this one thing. Why? Why would you take away something so dear to you? How _could_ you, if you knew what you were doing? How could you bring yourself to kill..." He choked. "Someone who was nothing but _good_ to you, out of something as meager as _curiosity?"_

Chara shook her head, pretending she was forcing herself to look at Sans. "I think... Heh." She sniffed. "I think I just wanted to know how you'd react."

Sans clenched his fists, scraping his teeth together. For a moment, his smile faltered. "How I'd...?"

"Not just you. Everyone else, also. Would Papyrus still believe in me until the end? Would Mettaton lose his confident veneer if I tore his heart out? How about Undyne - would she ever give up? Their reactions hurt, don't get me wrong - but even without Chara in me, I think I just felt like I _had_ to know what would happen. I thought I could just... reset, get you all to the surface again. We could go on as if nothing had ever happened." Chara chuckled. She was enjoying pretending to be Frisk. Perhaps even a bit too much. She could hear the real Frisk inside of her, trying desperately to regain control. It was so _pathetic_ \- so many resets, and the runt was _still_ determined to stop her. Chara tilted her head to one side, biting her lip. "But... It's funny. I think the main reason I did it _was_ you. I wanted you - for just _once_ in your pathetic life - to stop being so _lazy._ To just fucking _care._ Those times when you were serious with me were some of the scariest moments of my life - and I wanted to push you to your limit. I wanted to see what you were capable of, Sans, to see what you could do when you stopped hiding behind your stupid grin and a few puns - And boy, did you give me the fight of a _lifetime!"_ She faked a bitter laugh, her eyes wild and predatory.

Sans was angrier than he had ever been. He wanted to kill this little worm, to crush their bones to dust. He wanted to yell at them, to scream at them, to make them feel his anguish - but it didn't matter how much red he was seeing, nor did it matter that he could feel his smile slipping away - he just couldn't find the right words. The two of them stood like that for what felt like hours - Sans, his head dropped, every bone in his body aching with fury and his smile gone - and the human, staring down at him with a wide eyed grin, waiting to see what he was going to say. Finally, Sans lifted his head. He forced himself to grin in spite of everything - and stared right at them.

"I know you're in there somewhere Frisk. I know you're listening. I just want you to know - Everyone in the underground knows what you did. They can remember it all. And, with a few exceptions... They _all_ hate you for it." Sans hissed. "So, I guess you got what you wanted. You got 'something new' out of your 'friends'. Hope you're happy. Heh. After all, you _always_ get what you want, don't you?"

"... Interesting." Chara purred. "So you know I'm not Frisk. How'd you figure it out?"

"The crazy eyed grin is a dead give away, kid."

Chara blinked, and Sans was gone.

She stood alone at the foot of the bridge for a while. The snow beneath her feet seemed gray, the trees seemed barren - even the wind seemed to be moaning. Lucky for Papyrus, he never showed. She kept on walking.

 ** _But nobody came._**

* * *

The recent influx of memories had kept Undyne busy. She was frantically making calls, ordering every citizen to stay inside and rounding up the royal guard. She knew now that facing the human on her own would end in tragedy, but perhaps if everyone took her on together... "Asgore, what do you mean 'you want the human captured alive'!? This isn't any time for pacifism! She's killed us me, you, everyone - more times than I can even remember! Heck, I'm not sure if she even _is_ human! ... Yes, yes of course you know what she's done. ... Y-yes, I know she can't die per say... C...Chara? Your...? I'll trust your judgement. Yes sir. Sorry sir." She began to punch in the numbers to pass Asgore's message down to the guards when her cell rang.

The caller ID made her heart stop.

"Papyrus-!" She cursed under her breath and pressed the talk button. She'd completely forgotten about the lesson that she was supposed to have with him today. She put the speaker to her ear. "Hey, Papyrus - I'm really sorry about the lesson, but could you call back at a later time? Its just i'm kind of -

" _I REMEMBER HOW THE LESSON WENT, UNDYNE. YOU DO TOO. I'M NOT CALLING ABOUT THAT."_

 _"_ H-huh!?" Undyne reddened. "Ah - of course you do. You remember all of the other... things... also, don't you? Universes. Timelines. Whatever they are."

" _I'M BEGGING YOU TO STOP THIS, UNDYNE. LET THE HUMAN GO - PLEASE. THEY'RE NOT A BAD PERSON."_

Undyne's eyes widened. "W... How can you _say_ that, Papyrus? The human has killed you more times than-

" _THAT IS TRUE. BUT THEY ONLY KILLED ME ONCE IN A WAY THAT I FIND... HARD TO FORGIVE. THE HUMAN FEELS BAD ABOUT IT ALSO. MANY OF THOSE TIMES... IT WASN'T EVEN THEM, UNDYNE. YOU'VE GOT TO TRUST ME ON THIS."_

 _"_ It wasn't...?" Undyne furrowed her brow. "Y...yeah, I think Asgore told me something like that. Chara, right?" She cleared her throat. "Regardless, Papyrus - it was still the human's body that was hurting people. She needs to be contained, if nothing else."

"... _ARE YOU GOING TO TRY AND KILL HER, UNDYNE?"_

Undyne paused. "... No. Asgore wants them captured alive. It wouldn't do much good if I tried to kill her anyway, would it?"

" _THIS IS GOOD NEWS. THEN I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SHALL HELP YOU CAPTURE THE HUMAN!"_

 _"_ I really don't know if-" Undyne started to say, but Papyrus had already hung up. She sighed. She guessed it didn't matter if he wanted to help or not. She could use all the help she could get. That was, assuming the human's intent wasn't murder-y this time around, which she hoped it wasn't. She finished the last of her calls and went to put on her suit of armor. If it was the last thing she did, one way or another, the human was going to _pay._

Undyne didn't care what the human's motives were, nor that they hadn't had full control for some of the resets. They'd gotten close to her more times than she could count, making her trust and love them in some cookie cutter, rehearsed fashion. They had done so knowing _full well_ that they had killed and that they were going to kill her and the people closest to her. She didn't hate the human for killing her. Hell, she didn't even hate the human for killing her friends or for continuing to get them to the surface just to reset. No, the thing that made her _detest_ the human, above all else, was the fact that she had so blatantly _lied_ to her.

Had their friendship meant nothing?

Thinking about those timelines made Undyne's blood boil. She turned her mind from the subject, slipping her helmet over her head. If she really wanted to, she could get some payback in the heat of battle. Asgore had said that she had to capture the human alive - that didn't mean she couldn't _beat her to an inch of it._ She had some real fancy words she was dying to use, too.

' _How could you do something so evil?' 'All those times you made friends with me... did they mean NOTHING to you?'_ Oh, she couldn't _wait._

She started to head out, grabbing her spear from its resting position against the wall. As she stepped out of her house, something made her freeze - a hunched, black shape in the corner of her vision. When she blinked it was gone. She frowned, rather confused. "Must just be my mind playing tricks on me." She muttered, and she made her way towards the riverboat.

* * *

As Chara made her way into Snowdin, the first thing that she noticed was that it was completely empty. She snickered - It was like a genocide run all over again. _"What are you even planning to do? Whats the_ point _of you being in control?"_ Frisk pleaded from within her. " _Please - don't hurt anyone! Just let me take over while I can still fix things!"_

Chara stopped laughing. "Oh, shut it. You're not _going_ to fix things. You think Sans - or anyone else - is going to forgive you just because you feel guilty? It doesn't matter if you want to make things right. It doesn't matter if you _die_ to make things right. The damage has already been done. Sure, they _might_ tolerate you - but after _all this_ , do you really think they'd ever be your friends again?" She rolled her eyes. "Please. You know fully well why I'm in control - the moment I hand the wheel over to you, you'll go crying to Asgore like a little bitch. He'll kill you and absorb your SOUL. Besides - the timelines merging together? Everyone remembering _us_? Its the perfect opportunity to destroy this world once and for all! There is no _way_ I am watching this from the backlines! No, Frisk - I'm going to destroy this world again and again, forcing you to reset until..." She giggled. "Well, you know."

 _"Asgore knows you're inside of me! He's not going to kill his daughter!"_ Frisk protested.

"Then what?" Chara scoffed. "He keeps us locked in some dingy room until the day we die, searching futilely for a way to separate us? I know, if nothing else, you'd find a way to kill _yourself,_ Frisk. Because you feel 'bad', because it's the 'only way' for you to fix the multiverse, because you 'need' your friends to live happily on the surface. Sans was right - if you wanted your happy ending so badly, _why'd you throw it all away_? Why kill Papyrus and all those other monsters? Was what I said right?"

Frisk said nothing.

"Hohoh, it was, wasn't it?" Chara clicked her tongue. "You _were_ just curious! You _wanted_ to let me in. How _despicable._ You know, I bet Flowey would have a lot to say, had he not been too scared to show up."

 _"So what if Asgore would try and separate us?"_ Frisk ignored her taunts. " _Don't you want to_ feel _something again? To have parents? To be a normal kid?"_

Chara made a face. "I'm not like that _weed."_ She spat. "I have no sentimentally for the past."

 _"I think you do."_

"Then you're a fool."

* * *

As Papyrus saw the human shape rise up through the blizzard, he could tell that something was wrong. For one, they moved much too slowly for Frisk, their head right up as though they were staring straight at him. Through the thick snowstorm it was hard to tell if they were or not, but the crawling feeling on the back of his neck made him think that they might be. He was beginning to feel grateful that Sans had told him to stay back and help with the evacuations. They'd kept him too busy to go down and see the human, and he didn't like to think what could have happened if that hadn't been the case.

"SO, UM... YOU RESET, HUMAN? I CAN'T SAY I THINK THAT WAS THE SMARTEST IDEA... NOR CAN I SAY I THINK YOU RANDOMLY KILLING ME AND RUINING EVERYBODY'S' CHANCE OF A NICE LIFE WAS, EITHER... BUT WE CAN WORK PAST THIS, HUMAN! EVERYBODY MAKES MISTAKES, RIGHT?" Papyrus looked around nervously. This wasn't working. "I THINK I REMEMBER NOW... YOUR NAME IS 'FRISK', ISN'T IT? DO CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG BUT YOU SEEM TO BE APPROACHING RATHER... MENACINGLY. ARE YOU THE OTHER ONE? C-CHARA?"

Chara grinned. "Bingo," she said.

"I-IS FRISK INSIDE OF YOU? CAN I TALK TO HER, PLEASE?" Papyrus stuttered.

"Is Frisk inside of me? Of course! She can even hear and see you right now. As for whether you can talk to her..." Chara scratched at some dust on her Tough Glove. "Nah. ... I'd prefer to just kill you."

"A-AH... YES, YOU COULD DO THAT... T-THAT WAS IF I WASN'T HERE TO CAPTURE YOU AND DELIVER YOU TO UNDYNE!" Papyrus could hear his voice getting smaller and smaller. "YOU SEE, I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU ARE OR... W-WHAT YOU'VE DONE IN THE PAST! I CAN REMEMBER ALL OF THAT NOW, CHARA - AND I... I REALISE THAT I CAN'T AFFORD TO GIVE YOU ANYMORE CHANCES. IT PAINS ME TO SAY THIS, BUT IF YOU TRY TO GET PAST ME NOW, I WILL TRY TO STOP YOU! I WON'T - NO, I _CAN'T_ LET YOU HURT MY FRIENDS!"

Chara raised an eyebrow. "Oh...? Really? Big talk for a skeleton with such weak bones. Lets see how that 'power of love' shit holds up against my intent to kill, shall we? I mean... it didn't hold up in any of the other timelines. You should have seen Undyne! She was screaming and yelling and _struggling_ not to die! Sometimes she even started melting!" Her grin grew wider at the look of horror on Papyrus's face. "'Oh, Alphys, I can't die yet! I need you to have my _babies,_ Alphys!"" She threw her head back, roaring with laughter.

Papyrus said nothing for a moment. He gulped, steadying his breaths. "F-FRISK, IF YOU'RE IN THERE... I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT NO MATTER YOUR MOTIVE FOR KILLING ME THAT VERY FIRST TIME... I THINK I CAN FORGIVE YOU. IT MIGHT BE A BIT HARD FOR THE OTHERS, ESPECIALLY MY BROTHER - BUT I THINK THAT THEY CAN FORGIVE YOU, TOO." He narrowed his eyes at Chara, who's smile was quickly fading. "DON'T LISTEN TO THIS FREAK. IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT THEY SAY - WHAT MATTERS IS THAT I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE FAITH IN YOU TO OVERCOME CHARA'S CONTROL. YOU'VE ALMOST DONE IT BEFORE, RIGHT...? YOU JUST NEED TO PUSH A _LITTLE_ HARDER! I HAVE FAITH IN _YOU_ , HUMAN. UNTIL THE VERY END."

Chara was fuming. "What the hell are you _smiling_ at, you bonehead?" She snarled. Her voice was deep and booming - inhuman. " _I'll rake it off your face if I have to!"_

Papyrus stood up straight. Taking a deep breath, he summoned two gaster blasters and smiled wider. "I... I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY."

* * *

Sans raced through the undergrowth, his breaths growing sharp. _Papyrus - he had to get to Papyrus, before Chara..._

He wasn't racing in the traditional sense of the word so much as he was teleporting. It was twice as exhausting and hard when surrounded by such thick foliage, but what it lacked in efficiency it made up for in distance and speed. He didn't have a long ways to go - he just had to reach the edge of Snowdin before Chara did. He'd given up watching Papyrus's murder through the trees a few resets in, once he had realised that there was no point in trying to stop her. It wasn't like she could die, and Papyrus had always come back with the next reset. Now, though... now there was no room for error. There were only a few resets left until the end of everything - and Sans couldn't afford to let his brother die.

He could hear his brother's muffled voice in the distance getting increasingly louder as he continued on. He seemed to be talking with Chara, although he only managed to make out a bit of the conversation.

"- _UNTIL_ _THE VERY END."_

" _What the hell are you_ smiling _at, you bonehead?"_

Sans stopped, hyperventilating. The voices were right next to him by now - he was certain that he had the right spot. He watched through the trees, ready to jump out and defend his brother - but he froze when he saw the gaster blasters. Papyrus was... fighting? ... For real? An instinct sparked inside of him. He felt he had to rush out and stop Papyrus, to protect Papyrus and his innocence.

" _I'll rake it off your face if I have to!"_

Sans remembered how Papyrus had summoned those gaster blasters and protected Frisk so resiliently. For every argument that Sans tried to raise to himself, the same words echoed inside his head. _BUT SANS - MAYBE I DON'T NEED YOUR CONCERN! YOU ACT LIKE I AM NOT SMART ENOUGH TO PUT THESE THINGS TOGETHER!_

Sans faltered.

If Papyrus did this on his own, it could mean his acceptance into the royal guard. It would be all of his dreams fulfilled. Sans frowned. If things got too out of hand he would step in, but...

" _I...I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY."_

It couldn't hurt to give Papyrus a chance - could it?

* * *

Chara charged at Papyrus, weapon poised to strike. She clashed against bone - a single, massive bone, obscuring her path to Papyrus. She grunted in frustration and slashed at it, her murderous intent combined with her determination quickly felling it. It crashed to the ground and dissipated into dust - but standing where Papyrus should have been was nothing.

"HOW DO YOU LIKE MY BONE SHIELD? NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"

 _Behind her._

Chara spun around to see a flurry of bones flying at her. A row burst up from the earth, moving towards her with alarming speed. She leapt to the side and ducked, only to see more coming at her from the sides, moving up and down. She leapt in perfect succession, the pattern's familiarity granting her lead - at least for the time being. "Is that all you've got?" She rasped, wiping a line of sweat off of her brow.

"ARE YOU OKAY, NOT-HUMAN?" Papyrus asked with genuine concern. "IF YOU NEED TO, WE CAN TAKE A MOMENT TO REST?"

Chara laughed. "I didn't manage to kill your brother by _resting._ And he's _way_ more powerful than _you_ could ever be!" Papyrus flinched a little. It was subtle - but it was definitely there. "Oh, of course...! This is your first time hearing about your brother's death, isn't it? Yeah, I killed him - you should have seen how he fought, too! It didn't matter how many times I reset - he was always there to defend the world. I sometimes wonder why he kept trying, even after three genocide runs - maybe it was a fear that the world wouldn't come back, or some petty hatred thing." She shrugged. "It doesn't really matter, anyway - what _does_ matter is this. After dying maybe three hundred times to that moron, I killed him. _Then_ I blackmailed Frisk into going back, just so I could kill him a second time. Then a third - _just to rub his loss in his face."_

She yelped, rolling and just barely dodging the eight gaster blasters that Papyrus had locked on her. She laughed again. "Did that finally piss you off? Knowing how your brother died? If it makes you feel any better, you were in his thoughts until the very end. I think his final words were... oh yes." She smacked her lips, lowering her voice to mimic Sans. "'I'm going to Grillbys. Papyrus, do you want anything?'"

Chara saw Papyrus furl and unfurl his fists. How _amusing_ of him. _"_ YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT I THINK, NOT-HUMAN...?" Papyrus uttered.

"Hmm? What's that?" Chara sneered.

"I THINK YOU LAUGH TOO MUCH." Papyrus bounced back instantly. "I MEAN... IT'S CREEPY. I UNDERSTAND THE VALUE OF FINDING HUMOUR IN EVERYTHING, BUT THERE'S GOT TO BE A LINE SOMEWHERE, RIGHT?"

Chara screamed until her throat was raw. "Why are you always such a goody-fucking-two-shoes!? Does your brother's death mean _nothing_ to you?! How can you just shrug it off and make some stupid remark, as if what I'm saying doesn't make any damn difference!? How do you keep believing in everyone, no matter what they do!? _HOW!?_ "

Papyrus smiled rather awkwardly. "TO BE FRANK? ... I DON'T KNOW. ALL I KNOW IS THAT FROM WHAT I REMEMBER, THERE ARE THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS OF THESE TIMELINES. SURE, PERHAPS WE HAVEN'T QUITE STOPPED YOU YET. PERHAPS YOU HAVE KILLED MY BROTHER AND DESTROYED THE WORLD COUNTLESS TIMES. BUT WITH SO MANY TIMELINES... THERE'S GOT TO BE ONE TIMELINE OUT THERE WHERE WE DO BEAT YOU... HASN'T THERE?"

Chara grit her teeth. "We'll see." She snarled. She spun on her heel, lunging at him with the knife again. As she ran at him, Papyrus brought large bones cutting up through the snow, trying to snag her and knock her off of her feet. She darted in a zig-zag pattern, nailing the pattern. On the last bone, Papyrus did something she hadn't been expecting. A wall of bone cut up on the side she was trying to dodge to, forcing her back. She stumbled on the bone and quickly regained her balance - but in the time that it had taken for her to recover, Papyrus had already aimed four gaster blasters at her.

She rolled once again - but was too slow. In less than a second, the blasters had taken off a quarter chunk of her health.

Chara screeched, more from anger than pain. She began to struggle to her feet and Papyrus hesitated when he saw she was hurt - but not for long. Soon, he had called down a hailstorm of bones upon her, trapping her on the ground from above. He watched morosely as she ducked, jumped and twisted to avoid the raining death. She was doing a good job - but when Papyrus threw in a relentless spawn of gaster blasters into the mix, she didn't stand a chance. Papyrus forced himself to keep going, watching as her health drained more and more. If Chara's little speech about Sans' had done anything at all, it was to ensure that he didn't give her a chance to recover.

Chara's health was down to its last ten or so points when Papyrus finally stopped, ending his turn. She looked so pathetic, hunched over on the ground like that, her raw palms reddening the snow and her face dripping with sweat. "I AM SORRY, HUMAN." He said hesitantly. "DO YOU AT LEAST HAVE SOME ITEMS YOU COULD USE TO HEAL...? IF NOT, YOU COU-

Chara coughed, spitting out blood. " _Shove it up your ass."_ She croaked. Her fingers trembled as she retrieved her Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie from her items. She was about to eat it and regain her health points - when something speared it out of her hands and impaled it in the snow below.

A spear.

"Papyrus!" Undyne rushed through the snow, half the royal guard trailing along behind her. "Oh my god - Papyrus, are you hurt?" She whipped her head around to Chara, her face the epitome of hatred. " _You -_ I _swear,_ you little brat. If you hurt him-

"I AM OKAY, UNDYNE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONCERN." Papyrus cleared his throat - despite not having one. "SHALL WE FOCUS ON GETTING THE NOT-HUMAN TO ASGORE? I WEAKENED THEM FOR YOU."

"You - you did _this_ to her?" Undyne stammered. "I... But... I... _You_ -!"

Papyrus looked away. "... YES. IT IS NOT SOMETHING I AM PROUD OF."

" _Not something you're proud of?_ Are you _kidding_ me? Papyrus, you're _amazing!"_ Undyne laughed, quickly stopping to bind Chara's hands. "To be honest, I didn't think you were cut out for the fighting side of the royal guard, but now...!"

Papyrus widened his eye sockets. "THE... ROYAL GUARD!?" He shut his eyes. "FAME... POPULARITY... FRIENDS..." He sighed, looking away. "... I'M SORRY UNDYNE... BUT I THINK THE ANSWER IS NO."

Now it was Undyne's turn to be shocked. "N-no? But you've been working up to this for _years! W- How can you just-_

 _"_ THE WHOLE REASON I WANTED TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD WAS FOR POPULARITY." Papyrus stated. "IT IS TRUE THAT IT IS WHAT I WANT TO DO MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE - BUT IF I CAN BARELY BRING MYSELF TO LAY A FINGER ON THE CHILD THAT KILLED MY BROTHER, I DON'T THINK I'M REALLY THE BEST CANDIDATE. ... I'M SORRY, UNDYNE."

Undyne's face fell. "... I see." She murmured. "Well, let's get the child to Asgore, in anycase. ... Maybe you'll change your mind."

"WE'LL SEE." Papyrus breathed.

* * *

 _RESET!_ Chara thought. _WHY WON'T YOU JUST RESET, FRISK? DO YOU WANT ASGORE TO -_

 _"It's not going to work, Chara." Frisk replied. "Let's face it - you need me to reset for you. You don't have the luxury of blackmailing me, of saying you'll stay in control of my body until the next reset if I don't do what you say anymore, because I won't_ let _there be a next reset."_ Was that _smugness_ that Chara could detect in Frisk's voice? How insolent of her. " _Lets face it -_ you _underestimated Papyrus. And now we've reached a stalemate."_

Chara grunted as the two armored guards threw her to the floor of the judgement hall, right outside the throne room. Undyne knocked on the the wall next to the throne room entrance. "ASGORE!" She yelled. "We have Chara!"

There was the sound of rustling from inside the throne room, followed by the sound of something breaking. Asgore appeared at the entrance moments later. He opened his mouth to say something, but the moment he saw the human child kneeling broken and defeated as his feet, his composure melted. "C-chara?" He choked out.

Chara sighed, grinding her teeth together. She smiled contemptuously, forcing herself to meet Asgore's gaze. Her face was bloody and beaten, her eyes bloodshot and her hair wild and matted. Her voice as sing-song as she could make it, she choked out two words of her own. "Hi, dad."


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note: Hey guys, sorry the chapter is a bit late! My holidays ended recently, so I haven't had as much time to write.**

 **Once again, you're all awesome. Thank you so much for reading my fic. :)**

* * *

Chara sat on her old bed, holding an icepack to the worst bruise her face had endured. It stung - bad - but the Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie that Asgore had made for her had helped plenty. It wasn't as good as Toriel's had been, but it had sufficed.

She looked around the room. Waves of nausea rose in her chest from all of the memories it brought - of all of the places in the castle, Asgore had chose to keep her in here _?_ Why? Had he thought that she would enjoy it, having her past smeared across her face? She had already tried the door, but no matter how much she punched, kicked, screamed and shook the doorknob, it wouldn't budge. Nobody answered her cries. Asgore had taken her weapons, her dignity and then dead-locked, chain-locked, magic-locked and quadruple locked the door. She stared down at her lap, gritting her teeth and clenching her fists. _It wasn't fair._

She could hear voices down the corridor.

" _You wanted us to bring you her alive, we brought you her alive! It's a miracle Papyrus was able to break her health down enough for us and that we arrived when we did!"_ It was the fish-lady's voice - Undyne.

 _"... Yes, but did you have to..."_ Chara heard Asgore pause. " _She's barely alive. Did you really think I would be impressed... with you goring my daughter?"_

Undyne was silent.

A new voice joined in, deeper and more mellow. " _One thing I don't get is why the kid didn't just reset. She's had no problems with resetting in the past when she's died."_

 _"Perhaps the other one - Frisk - is the one who controls the resets? If the multiverse is ending like you told me and everyone is remembering who she is... perhaps she feels there's nothing she could lose by not resetting?"_ Asgore suggested. " _Shes trying to help us."_

 _"Yeah, she feels bad because she got caught. If she was really sorry, she wouldn't have killed Papyrus to begin with."_

 _"Sans, she made a mistake. A stupid, selfish mistake."_

 _"And now the timelines are tearing apart."_

She heard footsteps echo down the hallway, getting closer and closer. They stopped. Chara buried her entire face in her ice pack, feeling her stomach sink as she heard the jingle of chains and the clicking of locks on her door. "Please..." She grumbled. "Just leave me alone..."

The door creaked open, revealing Asgore, Sans and Undyne. Undyne's stare was icy. She looked like she had so much to say, like she was moments away from bursting and from thousands of timelines worth of anger spilling out. Chara guessed the only thing that was stopping her from doing was so was being in Asgore's presence. She took a deep breath, clenching her fists and turned. "I'll dismiss myself, I think," she muttered.

Asgore looked at her sympathetically as she walked off. Sans didn't budge in the slightest. "What's wrong, kiddo? You don't look too happy to see us."

Chara put most of what little energy she had left into a disgusted sneer. "You, on the other hand, seem plenty happy to see _me._ Why is that, Sans? Are you just that bitter _?_ Do you get off on seeing the ones you hate beaten and broken, their dignity ripped to shreds?" She let out a shuddering breath. "Would it make you happy to see my defiled corpse, guts torn out and maggots gnawing at my soft flesh, my SOUL shattered to pieces and the dust of my bones coating your hands? Would that finally be enough to make up for what Frisk did to your poor brother, to your life, you pathetic, miserable _worm?"_ The look of self-awareness and vulnerability that flickered on Sans' face for just a second made Chara's sneer turn into a twisted, contemptuous smile. " _You're hardly any better than_ she _is!"_

Sans opened his mouth to reply, but before he could say anything, Asgore cut in, his voice shaky. "N-now now, thats enough of that. Let's not bicker amongst ourselves." He turned to Sans. "Sans, you can go to your post in the judgement hall. I need to talk to Frisk for a bit, okay?"

"... No. I want to hear what the kid meant by that." Sans narrowed his eyes sockets. "What do you mean 'I'm hardly any better than she is'? She took away all of my hopes and dreams, killed my brother, killed everyone I loved... She's destroying the multiverse, kid. How could _anyone_ be worse than her? ... Other than you, I guess. But even you didn't start all of this, did you? You're just a parasite - you saw a host and latched on for the ride, because it's the only way you could survive and carry out your plans." He saw Asgore flinch at this description of his child, but in his current state, Sans didn't care.

"Please." Chara rolled her eyes. "She killed your brother, yes. Sure, she's a selfish, arrogant, murderous, whiny little _brat._ You know who else is? _You,_ you hypocritic _moron!"_

Sans froze. "How am I-

 _"_ You're not thinking of Papyrus at all!" Chara exclaimed. "Papyrus loves Frisk. He goes as far as to throw himself in the way of your gaster blasters just to save her life! Papyrus knows that Frisk killed him and he doesn't care. He can _still_ find it in him to forgive her, but you don't care about that, _do you?_ You just care about the fact that Frisk hurt _you._ If that isn't the definition of selfish-!" Chara scoffed. "As for the other things, how much of a crybaby can you _be?_ You're all 'Frisk ruined my life, Frisk is causing the end of the multiverse, wah, wah, wah'. Get the fuck over yourself! You waited until your brother and everyone you loved was _dead_ before so much as lifting a finger. When your brother was dying, when Undyne was fighting her heart and soul away, when innocent monsters were being cut down left and right trying to defend the world, where the _fuck_ were _you?_ Cooped up nice and safe in your judgement hall, hoping I might not come and kill you _-_ _you lazy coward._ "

Sans opened his mouth, but Chara wasn't finished. "What about the other children that fell down, huh? What happened to _them?_ In fact, now that I think about it - your entire species - you're all just a bunch of cowards and hypocrites! Asgore, you waited _years_ to free everyone, murdering child after child to break the barrier - but that's fine, because every monster _loves_ you! What about Undyne? 'You're standing in the way of everyones' hopes and dreams', she said - so why is it okay for _her_ to abolish the hopes and dreams of someone who, from what she knew, was a perfectly innocent child _?_ To abolish the hopes and dreams of seven billion _humans?_ I can't believe I didn't see it before - you're all as bad as the humans are!"

The room went deadly silent. The expressions on the faces before Chara were indescribable.

"...Is that why you insist on killing us all?"Asgore muttered.

Chara raised her eyebrows, a small smirk forming on the corners of her mouth. "I kill humans out of hatred. I kill _you_ sad sacks because you're there. Because I find it fun. I wouldn't care about anything you did if you weren't all such stuck up, hypocritic _weaklings._ I'd say the only one of you I sort of admire would be Papyrus! Unlike the rest of you, he didn't attack me for some selfish, piece of shit reason. He didn't cower and he admits when his morals aren't sound. The whole goody-two-shoes shtick though - that, I must say, really gets under my skin." She spoke through gritted teeth, itching at a cut on her forehead. "So no, I don't kill monsters out of hatred, Asgore, fluffy-buns, dad - whatever. In light of recent events, though... I might start to."

"Surely that can't be how you think!" Asgore cried. "You've got to remember me, Asriel and your mom! All the good times we had together, as a family! Y-you can't just _stop_ _caring_ about those, about us!" There was a pained expression on his face.

"The kid is empty, Asgore." Sans warned. "She's going off of a borrowed SOUL. She's not your daughter - she's a husk, an echo of consciousness."

"T-that can't... I can't believe that!" Asgore pleaded. "S-she's got to be in there somewhere, right? The kid I raised?"

Chara giggled. "I don't know. Why don't you remember all the times I killed you?"

Asgore frowned. "Y-you never killed me. It was either Frisk, or-

He went pale.

Chara's ominous laughter escalated. "Dad! You've gone so white! You look like a yeti!"

"T-That flower... I remember now..." Asgore's hands gripped his mouth, his eyes welling with tears. Chara just laughed harder. "A-Asriel... O-Oh god..." He looked at Chara, his hands trembling. "I-is he...?"

"Also soulless?" Chara nodded. "Yep! He killed you for me many a time, without shedding so much as a petal! Then I stomped him to death."

A terrified realisation sparked inside of Asgore's eyes. "Toriel...?" He breathed.

Chara only smirked.

Tears were falling freely down Asgore's face by now. He pushed past Sans and left the room, slamming the door shut behind him. Chara shrugged at Sans, rolling her eyes. "He always was an overdramatic fool." Another twisted grin contorted her face. "You should have seen how he reacted when I fed him buttercup pie."

Sans sighed. "I know I've said this before... but you really are sick, you know that?" He seemed to be searching Chara's eyes for something. "Frisk, kiddo - I have something I need to say to you." He swallowed. "It is true that you killed my brother. Its true that you messed everything up big time. Honestly though? I could have tried harder to stop you. While I am still pissed about you knocking over that first domino and resetting, if Papyrus can find it in his warm, fuzzy skele-heart to forgive you for what you've done ... Well, I guess I can too. 'Nobody's perfect', right?"

Frisk felt some weight lift from her. If she could have spoken in the moment, she would have had no words to convey the relief that she felt.

"Wow, that was one apology!" Chara clapped her hands. "Hehe - Did I really get to you that much, Sansy?"

Oh course, Chara had to cheapen it.

"... Yeah. I guess you did. Congrats." Sans murmured.

He vanished.

He reappeared.

"Oh - and uh, don't call me 'Sansy'. ... Ever."

He vanished and moments later, the door to the room seemed to lock itself.

* * *

Asgore lumbered down the hall. He didn't know where he was going exactly, but he had to gather his thoughts. He'd tried not thinking about anything that had happened, but it was hard - not thinking of something when you're trying not to. _Could that really have been my daughter?_ He thought to himself. _Sans said that she was soulless, but... how did this even happen?_ He dragged his paws down his face, slumping against a nearby wall. "Asriel..." He sniffed.

In the corner of his eye, he saw something move. A flower? Asgore felt himself freeze, a lump in his throat. "... Asriel?" He pleaded.

"Hi... dad." The flower spoke. It had a sad smile on its face, one that seemed so genuine. Asgore pleaded with himself. Maybe Chara had been wrong? Maybe Asriel wasn't soulless? Maybe he just...

"H-how did this happen to you?" Asgore sobbed.

"I've had a lot of timelines to think about that myself. Don't you think if I knew I'd tell you?" The flower frowned.

"Maybe..." Asgore's eyes widened. "The flowers. Asriel, I-

"Don't call me that." The flower interrupted. "Just call me Flowey."

"...Flowey." Asgore's face fell. "Your mother and I - we scattered your dust over the garden. Wouldn't you believe it, golden flowers bloomed everywhere. Years later, Alphys comes through. She asks if she can use some of the flowers for an experiment. I... I tried to ask her what experiment, but she said it was a surprise. There were so many flowers, I couldn't have known that..."

"Stop sniveling." Flowey snapped. "I accepted what I am _timelines_ ago. In light of certain... memories that have surfaced, I think you know why I'm here."

Asgore looked up. "Why's that?"

"I'm here to talk about Chara." Flowey glanced down at the floor. "Heh. I think you know as well as I do the number that Frisk did on the multiverse. You all remember who she and Chara are. I'm sure you've noticed certain odd... things, too - dreams. Strange pains, coming and going. Shadows flickering in the corner of your vision - that kind of thing."

"Things have seemed rather off lately," Asgore murmured. He frowned. "What about Chara?"

"Do I need to spell _everything_ out for you, you IDIOT?" Flowey growled. "If we don't do something to stop her, she's going to kill us all. You. _Me._ Everyone, below or above the surface. She'll find a way to make Frisk reset eventually, and when that happens, things will get _really_ freaky. If you thought they were chaotic now?" He cackled. How similar it was to Chara's laugh sent chills down Asgore's spine. "Imagine how you'll cope with two Asgores, five Floweys, eight Charas. Things, people that should not exist starting to exist - and that just covers the timelines that have been worn away by Chara and my own resets. Once those timelines fall through, the rest of them will follow - completely different scenarios where the humans lost and we drove them underground. Where I'm good and you're all evil. Where people who should have died never died. Full blown paradoxes existing in one temporal space. That sound fun to you?"

Asgore gulped. "N-no, not really - but what can we do? Surely you're not suggesting we _kill_ Chara!"

Flowey rolled his eyes. "You need to let go of that sentimentality, you delusional fool. She's not your daughter anymore! She's an empty husk, like me!"

"I... I know, but surely there's a way to save her! G-get her SOUL back, or something!"

"When I died, her SOUL was within me. It shattered along with mine." Flowey said solemnly. "She's not going to leave Frisk of her own accord, and the multiverse is in danger while she's still alive." He sneered. "Come on! You have her locked up, cornered, trapped - right where we _need_ her! We can go in there right now and shoot her full of 'friendliness pellets'!"

"I..." Asgore clenched his fists to still his trembling hands. "I-I can't. No, I'm sorry - I don't want anyone else to die."

"Then _what?!"_ Flowey screamed. "You're just going to let the multiverse _burn?_ Because you're too much of a cowardly _IDIOT_ to get your hands a little bloody?"

"Because there's got to be a better way." Asgore stood his ground. "Alphys is the royal scientist behind SOUL research, right? Well - P-perhaps she can find out how to separate Frisk and Chara. From what I know, they're sharing a SOUL right now. They're basically fused together, so maybe I'm wrong and it can't be done - but I can't just kill my daughter knowing I didn't even try to save her. I can't watch her die again."

Flowey spluttered. "W-well-! Unbelievable - Fine. Do what you want. But if you can't separate them, I'm taking matters into my own hands, or lack thereof!" Asgore felt himself sink into despair once again as Flowey disappeared beneath the ground.

* * *

"They killed my entire family!"

"Shouldn't we have been safe?"

"Its the angel of death!"

"What are these memories?!"

Alphys glanced around the screaming monsters crowded into the true lab, pushing her glasses up her snout with two trembling fingers. Her face was drenched in sweat, the epitome of stress. An entire room full of screaming, terrified, angry individuals was scary enough without a swirling whirlpool of memories to drag her down, dark, darker yet darker, until...

NNGH! She couldn't concentrate with all this noise!

She started hyperventilating, her voice trembling and shrill. "N-NOW! E-Everybody just c-calm down! I'm sure everything is o-okay! The human can't get past the _entire royal g-guard_!"

That was right. Everything would be okay. Undyne would call her shortly to tell her that the human had been captured, that they were all safe, that the multiverse _wasn't_ going to be obliterated after all.

Or, maybe she wouldn't. The human would go on to find them all, to kill them all, to destroy the universe - every universe! She'd never get to confess to Undyne, she'd never get to live happily ever after with her on the surface, she'd never get to watch anime again -

Just then, her cell rang. She answered it quicker than she ever had in her life. "U-Undyne! Y-you're okay! How'd it...?" Undyne said something, but through the ruckus around her, she couldn't hear a thing. She could feel timelines upon timelines of stress building upon her, pushing her ever closer to her breaking point, to -

"E-EVERYBODY QUIET!" She screeched. The effect was immediate, the room so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. She blinked, dazed at her own loudness. She apologized under her breath before putting the phone back to her ear. "S-sorry about that, Undyne. Huh? W-what was that? Uh... Nothing important. Anyway, how'd it g-go?" As she listened, her face lit up. "R-really?" She squealed. "Y-you c-captured her!? For real?! I knew you could do it, Undyne!" She raised her eyes. "I-it wasn't you? Papyrus?" She vaguely remembered the name. Maybe from one of her memories, or Undyne. "E-either way! That's great news! I'll tell everyone that they can g-go home!"

She hung up the call and turned to the anxious crowd, beaming. "H-hey, guys! Great news! They captured the human - shes in Asgore's custody!"

The crowd began to murmur. Most monsters sounded relieved but Alphys could also hear concern.

"You mean she's not dead?"

"Yeah, what do you mean she's in 'Asgore's custody'?"

This disconcert spread throughout the crowd, quickly sweeping under the rug any remaining relief or joy that might have been present. Alphys stammered, trying to come up with a good excuse, but they had a point. Why _wasn't_ the human dead? Undyne had only told her a little. She'd told her about the human's ability to 'reset' - not that Alphys understood it much. From what she could gather, it was some _Steins;Gate-_ esque stuff. She'd told her that they'd done it too much, that the multiverse was beginning to die. The human had lied and killed them all so many times, holding their hopes and dreams before their noses, then snatching them away. They were despicable, evil - so why was Asgore keeping them alive?

She jumped as her cellphone rang again. Alphys frowned, answering it hesitantly. "H-hello? Undyne?"

" _Sorry, Alphys - its fluffybuns."_

Alphys could almost _feel_ her color drain. "A-Asgore!?" She squeaked. A sense of dread began to well up inside of her. "W-what are you calling me for? Is something the matter?"

" _... Sort of. I think it'd be better if we spoke in person about this..."_

 _"_ I-I'm sorry, I don't understand. W-whats going on?"

Asgore paused. " _I have a job for you."_


	7. Chapter 7

"You want me to _what?"_ Alphys gaped. Asgore had told her everything. How he wanted her to find a way to separate the souls. How Frisk had started the killings but Chara had continued them. How Frisk sometimes killed them as well and had odd motives for doing so. How Frisk was Chara's vessel and how Chara was using Frisk's SOUL. How Flowey was Asriel and how Chara and him were both soulless-

To say that Alphys's blood was turning cold would have been an understatement. Her blood was frozen solid. "O-oh, no - nononono! Y-you _know_ how it turned out the last time I did any research on SOULs - The amalgamates, the flower, who you just now told me was your _son-! Chara?"_

The name was familiar to her from the video tapes down in her lab. After watching the tapes, she'd tried to find any info on whoever 'Chara' was. She hadn't found much - just a few snippets here and there. They had alluded to Chara as the king and queens' adopted second child. A _human_. She'd assumed it be somewhat of a rumor, and even now she was having a hard time believing it - after all, how was that even possible, two human souls merging? Well, she supposed Chara wasn't _fully_ human - but even so! Where did she even start? What did she-?

Alphys must have looked quite crazed because Asgore smiled, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Its okay, Alphys. I have faith in you to do this."

Alphys fidgeted, her breaths nervous and unsteady. "B-but, I... _I_ don't have faith in me to do this! What if I fail? What if I get it wrong, like I did last time? What if...?"

"Then you fail."

"Then you'd have to kill this Chara girl, y-your _daughter!_ _Frisk-!_ I mean, I know Frisk isn't the best person for what she did, but...I can't be responsible for that, I just can't! B-but if I say no to you now, I'm also going to be responsible for someone's death - I... I..." Alphys grabbed her head in her hands and whimpered. She looked at Asgore, her eyes brimming with concern. "What if..." She breathed. "What if I shatter their soul or something? What if I manage to separate Frisk and Chara... and something goes horribly wrong? What if...?"

"We'll figure this out, Alphys." Asgore promised. "Don't worry about it, okay? I'll give you some time to think, if-

"N-no!" Alphys cut in. "No, I... If I don't give you my answer now, I feel like I might chicken out. Like I might regret it. If I get this wrong, I think I'll be okay. I remember so much now and I know..." She gulped. "I know that there _are_ people who love me. Who want to help me. Who knows? Maybe I'll get it right this time, and I'll be a hero."

Asgore relaxed. As he exhaled, he seemed to shrink about ten percent. "Thank you," he breathed. "You have no idea how much this means to me."

Alphys looked unsure. "I-I'll do my best."

* * *

Sans lay on his mattress, staring at the trash tornado across the room from him. _Far cooler than a bin,_ he thought. He frowned at the white dog he swore he could see spinning alongside the plates of spaghetti, the crumpled scientific theories and... other, far more depressing notes. Had that dog been there before? ... He supposed it didn't matter.

He hadn't come out of his room all day in spite of Papyrus's distress. _Just further proves what a horrible brother I am,_ he thought. Chara's words had cut deep. He'd had them playing in his brain on repeat for the past few hours now, over and over and over again like a miniature time loop of his own. If Chara had wanted to get to him, he supposed that she had done a good job. All of the hate that he had been directing at Frisk was now directed at himself. It didn't matter how he tried to reassure himself.

 _Why hadn't he tried harder to save them?_

When Frisk had reset that first time, he had been so confused. Moments ago, he had been on the surface, driving down the highway with Papyrus, laughing and joking with his friends. They'd all taken a photo together. He'd put that photo in his pocket. He'd woken up in his bed in Snowdin.

He remembered asking himself: Why? He'd tried to tell himself that they must have had a reason. Maybe there was someone they didn't save, or something that they had forgotten to do -

Then Frisk had killed Papyrus.

He hadn't known at first. It was only when Papyrus didn't return from his usual cooking lesson, that he didn't answer his phone that Sans had grown concerned. He'd gone to check at Undyne's house just in case he was there, entertaining some tiny glimmer of hope he must have had. He'd walked maybe five minutes before he'd found Papyrus's scarf and chest piece, buried beneath the snow and dust.

He'd felt so numb.

He'd thought, _what if he never comes back? What if he stops existing, just like Gaster did?_

Nothing had really mattered after that. By the time had had snapped out of it, it had been too late.

Maybe the reason why he hated Frisk so much for killing Papyrus, the reason why he was defending Papyrus so fiercely now because he hadn't done so before, because he had let his guard down. He'd known about Frisk's power to reset, but he had trusted her nonetheless.

He had been so stupid.

Past that was just... apathy. The kid had learnt all of his moves and could beat him within one or two tries. He'd managed to dunk on her once or twice and the payback had felt good - but the novelty of killing her had soon worn off. Frisk always came back. So did Papyrus. What was even the point of trying to save him?

He was snapped out of his train of thought by Papyrus banging on the door. "SANS! OPEN THE DOOR... PLEASE? YOU'VE BEEN LYING AROUND EVEN MORE THAN YOU USUALLY DO! ... I'M GETTING WORRIED, SANS."

Sans didn't answer. _I'm such a piece of scum,_ He thought, shutting his eyes.

The pounding stopped. At first Sans thought that Papyrus had gone, but then he heard him speak. "CAN YOU GIVE ME A SIGN THAT YOU'RE STILL ALIVE AT LEAST, BROTHER?"

Something sparked inside of Sans. "Yeah, sorry bro - I just didn't get much sleep last night, that's all." It took all of the energy that he had left to call the words out, but by some miracle, he managed.

Papyrus paused. "... SANS, YOU KNOW YOU CAN TALK TO ME, RIGHT?"

Once again, Sans didn't reply.

"SANS?"

After Sans didn't reply a third time, Papyrus's voice became resigned. "...I'M GOING TO GO GET YOU A BURGER FROM GRILLBYS, OKAY? I'LL LEAVE IT OUTSIDE YOUR DOOR. OR YOU CAN UNLOCK YOUR DOOR AND COME WITH ME?" He sounded hopeful.

"Nah, just leave it outside." Sans called. "Thanks, bro."

There was a pause, and then Sans heard footsteps.

Papyrus didn't reply.

* * *

"Where are you even _taking_ me?" Chara grunted as Undyne bound her hands for the second time that week.

It was Asgore that replied. "To the royal scientist's... Uh, to Alphys's lab. I've asked her to look into a way to separate you from Frisk, so that you won't have to control her anymore."

"You're going to let me live out the rest of my life as the play thing of some wierdo scientist who can barely set one foot outside without being reduced to a nervous, shaking _wreck!_ You're going to let her poke and prod me, cut me open and chip away at my SOUL until it breaks!" Chara scoffed. "Can't say I'm surprised!"

Undyne looked livid. " _Shut it,_ kid. Don't you _dare_ talk about Alphys that way. She's twice the m-

"It's not your SOUL. You stole it." Asgore cut in. He glared at Undyne, a cue for her to keep her mouth shut. "Trust me, I'm doing this for the good of you, as well as everyone else. It was this or kill you."

"I'd rather die!" Chara bluffed. "At least then, Frisk would reset! I'd be free! Things would get _interesting_ around here! Why are we still dragging this on? Let's get armageddon _started_ already!"

"No. I don't think she would." Asgore said. "I was wondering about that also. After thinking about it, I've finally decided. Frisk said before that she would be willing to die if it meant getting us safely to the surface. Nothing has changed between then and now that would change her mind." Chara growled, clenching her fists. Asgore's face remained serious. "If you die, you stay dead, Chara. The royal guard, me, Sans - Even Frisk has you trapped. So you'd do well to stop throwing a temper tantrum and go along with what we tell you."

A look of confusion came over Undyne's face as Asgore said this. If Frisk was so desperate to save them, why get them to the surface over and over again only to reset? Her guess was it had something to do with Chara - she wasn't completely sure of just how far Chara's control over Frisk extended. She opened her mouth to speak, but ultimately decided against it. The king hadn't chosen to tell her and unless he did, she knew she could very well be out of line to ask.

 _I dont get you, Frisk._ Chara thought, tuning out the world around her as she was dragged through the castle halls and out towards the core. _You're so determined to stop me from killing your friends, even at the cost of your own life. ... Why? That's so... pointless._

 _"Don't you remember why?"_ Frisk asked.

Chara frowned. _What? You mean_ _because you love them? Loving people... that was the me from a long time ago. Loving someone unconditionally like that, to the point where you'd die for them - how stupid."_

 _"I don't know. It just... feels good, I guess. To have people who love you and to love them back. They... they help you."_

 _So you use them?_

 _"No. No, its more than that."_ Chara could almost hear Frisk sigh from inside of her mind. _"Never mind. I don't know how to explain this to you. ... If you wouldn't mind too much, could I ask you a question, too?"_

Chara paused. ... _Go ahead._

 _"Why do you want to kill everyone, to destroy everything? Was your hatred the only thing left of your SOUL? When I fell into that flower bed... Was it the only part of you determined enough to survive? You obviously felt drawn to me, as opposed to one of the other six - whether that was because of my own determination or some other reason, I might not ever know. What I do know is that that kind of existence, living only to kill and harm... It seems so shallow."_ Frisk paused. "... _Truth be told, I almost pity you."_

It was ever so subtle, but just for a moment, Frisk could have sworn she heard Chara's voice waver. "D-don't." She snarled. "Don't _pity_ me. I would rake you down in an instant, if you weren't..."

"Who are you _talking_ to?" Asgore raised his eyebrows.

 _"Well done, genius. You said that out loud."_

Chara ignored Frisk. "Nobody you need care about." She deadpanned to Asgore.

"F-Frisk? Is that who you're-? What did she say?" Asgore questioned eagerly.

"Why does Frisk..." Undyne made a face. " _Pity_ you?"

"It's none of your business!" Chara snarled. Her voice echoed off the vast metal walls of the core.

Asgore's face fell. "Oh. S-sorry."

Undyne scoffed, rolling her eyes. She didn't want to hear about Frisk or Chara anyway. Chances are Frisk was just lying about being willing to die - she'd lied about so many other things already. Sure, she hadn't reset after being beaten up and she'd allowed Chara to be captured, but...

She just didn't know if she could trust Frisk or not.

The three of them walked the rest of the way to Alphys's lab in silence.

* * *

Alphys had a miniature heart attack the moment the doors to her lab rolled open. She had been preparing herself for this moment since Asgore had told her that he was bringing Chara over. She had been thinking happy thoughts and trying out some new breathing exercises that she had found online, doing some light yoga and stuffing herself with chocolate, but nothing would cease her accursed trembling. "O-oh, this must be Chara!" She squeaked, rushing over to greet the trio.

A little shiver ran down her back as she stared at Chara. She looked so normal, it was almost hard to believe that this was a human - no, a thing - that had killed her and everyone that she loved god knew how many times. Then again, their eyes were dead and cold, their faces twisted with rage - maybe it wasn't so hard after all. She glanced anxiously up at Asgore. "She uh... she's secured well, right?"

Asgore frowned. "Her restraints have been reinforced with binding magic. There's no way she's getting out of those."

In response, Chara pulled at her restraints as hard as she could, clenching her knuckles white with effort. She grinned wickedly at Alphys. "That's what you think." Chara sneered. "It might be next week, next year or it might be a lot longer than that - but one way or another, I am getting out of these wretched binds."

Undyne rolled her eyes. "You keep telling yourself that, you wimp."

"Can we trust you to find a place to stay for her?"

"H-huh!? Y-yeah!" Alphys nodded. "B-but I mean, this is still all so sudden for me! I mean, I don't even know what humans e-eat, or does Chara even need to eat if she's not fully human, or does she only need to eat to keep Frisk alive, or..."

Asgore laughed. "I'm sure you'll figure it out, Alphys."

Alphys gulped. "Uh - Y-yeah, I'm sure I will! I said I'd do my best before, so... I'd better get to that then. Doing my best, that is. Heh." She scratched the back of her neck.

As Asgore and Undyne started to leave, Undyne paused, looking back. "Hey, Alphys - no pressure, yeah?" She grinned, winking. "I love you no matter what timeline we're in."

Alphys went red and began to babble incoherently. Asgore and Undyne chuckled as the doors slid shut behind them.

Alphys, Chara and Frisk were alone.

Alphys tapped her fingers together, biting the side of her cheek. "So - uh... You're out for the d-destruction of everything."

Chara stared blankly at Alphys. "And?"

Alphys chuckled. "'And'." She shook her head. "You t-took away everything from me so many times... and all you have to say for yourself is 'and'? ... What about Frisk? Does she have the same attitude?" Alphys sighed. "You know, i-it's funny. I remember all the timelines... all of the awful things you did to the people I love. I remember being the hero, the coward, the friend, the survivor and the victim - there's so much I want to say to you. There should be, I hate you _so much -_ but Asgore has trusted me with this. If I get this right, I will have saved _everyone._ I can't afford to treat you as an enemy. I need to treat you as an obstacle to overcome and move past."

"What if you get this wrong?" Chara cocked her head to the side. "There are plenty of timelines where you've committed suicide. I wonder if this will be one of them?"

Alphys's face flickered with frustration and grief for a moment. "... No." She said. "Never."

"We'll see, I guess." Chara picked at some dust under her fingernails. "So... are we going to get this started or what? I'd prefer you to shatter my SOUL quickly, rather than staying cooped up in here for _years._ "

Chara's pessimism barely phased Alphys, or if it did, she chose not let it show. "Uh - Y-yes, of course! I guess if I'm trying to find a way to separate you and Frisk from each other, I'll first need to know how exactly you two became fused in the first place."

"Heh." Chara scoffed. "I'd say we merged when Frisk first fell. I was buried beneath the flowers she fell onto, you see - I guess that whatever was left of my consciousness was drawn to her."

Alphys frowned, although Chara could see she was trying hard to conceal excitement. "... Why Frisk? Why not one of the other humans that fell before her? Why were the particles of SOUL that found their way into Frisk all so _hateful?_ "

"You all deserve to be destroyed. That fact doesn't change whether I have a full SOUL or not." Chara spat. "As for why I chose Frisk... I'd have to say her determination. Her will to live exceeded even my own. Sure, my determination is built off of hatred, 'questionable' motives and 'LOVE', whereas hers is built off of kindness and 'love' - which can prove to be tiresome. Frisk made it _easy_ for me to work around that, though." She chuckled. "No doubt Asgore told you how she awakened me."

"She started to kill of her own free will." Alphys mumbled. She felt sick thinking about that. "So... let me get this straight. When your hatred or LOVE overpowers Frisk's love, or when Frisk feels some sort of urge to kill, you can control her. ... So what if you felt some form of love? Would Frisk be able to...?"

Chara shrugged. "I-I don't know. She's never been able to make me feel love. The only reason I let her stay in control sometimes is because she gets us to the surface, or because I'm tired." It was a bluff. It was rare, but there were moments where Frisk regained control - either when Frisk fought particularly hard, or when she made her feel... something. Not love, but something. "I think I make it a little easier for her to kill you guys, truth be told. I mean, do you really think someone entirely sane would kill their friends just out of some desperation to see what'll happen, or to experience something new?" She laughed. "No - I think a little of me rubs off on her. I think a little her _likes_ it."

"Then wouldn't a little of her, even the tiniest amount, rub off on you?" Alphys raised her eyes. She grabbed a notebook off of a nearby desk and began to scribble something down. "I mean, it makes sense - you are sharing souls."

Chara froze. "I... hadn't thought of it that way." She snorted. "whats the point of love, anyway? Its pointless. It doesn't help you - you need to try really hard to give and to get it and even when you do, it just gets you hurt. The smallest mistake can make people hate you again, as Frisk showed us all. Isn't it better to have people hate you from the get-go and to still get what you want, rather than to work your ass off for something that may or may not work out?"

Alphys paused. "Yeah, well... I guess the point of it is to make others happy."

Chara made a face. "Who cares?'

Alphys thought about that for a while. She gave up because it was making her head hurt and decided to change the subject. "...You mentioned that you were buried underneath those flowers, Chara. Asgore also said that you died years back." Alphys frowned. "... How did you die? Asgore didn't tell me."

Chara said nothing for a while. "I died because there were some people that I loved too much."

The look on Alphys's face was tragic. Thinking about what Chara had meant by that sent chills down her spine. "Oh. Right. You took those buttercups, didn't you...?" She smiled sadly. "You know, everyone in the underground thinks that your death was an accident. Even the king and queen think that you just got ill."

Chara looked up, her eyes burning with shock and rage. "How do you-?"

"O-oh! I found some tapes in my lab. Asgore, Toriel, Asriel and you were all on them."

"Tapes?" Chara scowled. "... Oh. Those. Killing myself like that... I was an idiot."

"N-no, you just had a SOUL!" Alphys protested.

"If having a SOUL would make me as dumb as _that,_ why the heck would I want one?"

"In my opinion..."

"I really don't care about your opinion."

Alphys continued anyway. "I-in my opinion, isn't loving someone to the point where you'd die for them kind of the same thing as hating someone so much that you'd kill them over and over again? Just in one, you're happy. In the other, you're-

"I am happy!" Chara snapped. She grinned wickedly. "Killing you sorry bastards makes me _very_ happy!"

"That's..." Alphys sighed. "Its not the same thing."

Chara's smile fell. She rolled her eyes. "Ugh, how would you even _know?"_ She turned her back and, obviously deciding not to answer any more of Alphys's questions, she said nothing more.

* * *

It was getting late, or at least that was the illusion given off by the few working human clocks and gadgets that had fallen underground. Alphys wasn't sure of exactly what time it was - her phone said it was around 8:00PM, whereas another clock said it was about 10:00PM. About five hours had past since Chara and her had last talked and Alphys, lacking a place to keep Chara where she could be sure that she would not find a way to escape, had anxiously chained her to a leg of her work table.

Scattered around her desk were stacks of notes, theories and potential ways she could split the SOUL. So far, nothing had worked out. She'd considered the amalgamates as one of her first examples. Monster SOULs, partially melted together by determination. Ultimately though, the theory had flopped. Frisk was a human and Chara was somewhere in between the two species, and the two seemed to be fused in a far more symbiotic, complex nature than the amalgamates.

She'd asked herself what the true nature of the SOUL really was, how it was made. She prided herself on what little progress she had made. Determination was a key element in human SOULs. It appeared in tiny amounts within monster SOULs, although monster SOULs were made up primarily of hope and kindness. She'd found herself thinking - if monster SOULs contained a tiny amount of determination, would it not make sense for human SOULs, which were made up of primarily determination, to possess a small amount of love and kindness?

Chara had no love and kindness left.

Another point that Alphys had made was that Chara's memories, her motive for why she was so determined to survive had seemed to have remained. That motive was murderous and hateful, and it had twisted her determination into something that it wasn't meant to be.

That led Alphys onto another point that had been bugging her for a while.

Chara had been 'awoken' within Frisk when Frisk had started to kill. That implied that Chara hadn't _had_ murderous intent until then, even though there had been at least one whole timeline in which Chara could have taken over Frisk. That was assuming the remaining fragments of Chara's SOUL had latched onto Frisk in that first timeline - to which there was no evidence suggesting that she had done otherwise. Why would Chara wait to kill everyone? Why wouldn't Chara take over Frisk the second she got to the surface, like Asgore had said she had done in every timeline since?

It made no sense - unless you considered that Frisk's love and kindness had rubbed off on Chara's SOUL.

Not enough to fully rebuild her SOUL - just enough to repress those feelings of hatred. Enough to get Chara to feel some form of genuine _love_ again.

When Frisk had reset, when she had started killing and gaining LOVE, she had undone all of that.

If anything, she had _amplified_ the feelings of hatred that Chara had felt.

On top of ruining their chances at a happy ending, on top of her existence threatening to destroy the multiverse, on top of her decision to reset and kill out of curiosity being just plain _selfish,_ Frisk was the reason that 'Chara' existed.

"God, Frisk..." Alphys muttered. "That's some mistake you made."

Next to her, Chara sat still as a doll, resigned after much shrieking and raking at the table leg. As Alphys spoke, she swore she could see some glimmer of sadness, deep inside of her glassy eyes.

Alphys wondered if the sadness was Frisk or Chara she saw.

Just then, she heard pounding at the door. For just a moment she was confused as to who it could be - then it hit her.

 _Oh god,_ she thought. _Mettaton._ She'd completely forgotten - just a little after she'd gotten back talking with Asgore, Mettaton had come by asking that she work on his defensive capabilities for his NEO form. The request had taken her by surprise, it had been so sudden. All the same, she'd told him that she'd meet up with him later that night, as she had something she had to do first. Mettaton hardly ever came by and, not wanting to put him off, she hadn't included specifics at the time.

Now she was kind of wishing that she had.

Mettaton banged at the door a second time. Alphys scowled. Did he have to be so impatient? "C-coming!" She called. She almost tripped over a step on her way down. She could feel her legs turning to lead as she approached the door, her hands becoming jello. This was going to be _so_ hard to explain - maybe she could just turn him away. Maybe she could tell him to come another day, or...

No. She couldn't keep hiding things like this. This was exactly what she had done with amalgamates, and things had just gotten worse and worse as a result.

She took a deep breath and opened the doors.


	8. Chapter 8

**Authors Note: I've got to apologize for all of this build up and delay! I have bad times coming soon, don't worry!**

* * *

"H-hi, Mettaton!" Alphys stuttered. "Please, come in!"

Alphys found it curious that Mettaton was in his EX form. Mettaton hadn't been at the evacuation. There were only a few other monsters who hadn't been - either because they were either helping to capture Chara, because they had dodged the evacuation memo, or because they didn't need to be evacuated. When she'd upgraded Mettaton's EX form to Mettaton NEO using the human-eradication weaponry pre-built into him, he'd been able to change forms by himself. She hadn't done that in this timeline. Instead, Mettaton had disappeared.

Alphys wondered where Mettaton had been and who had flipped his switch.

"Are you okay, Alphys?" Mettaton frowned, making good use of the forms new facial muscles."Its just that you seem even more nervous that usual." He smirked. "You didn't forget I was coming over, did you?"

"N-no, of course not!" Alphys lied. "I was just wondering why you were in your EX form? Who flipped your switch?"

Mettaton frowned. "... I was with Blooky."

"Bloo-?" Alphys bit her lip. Ah, yes. Mettaton's cousin. He'd used to tell her all about them - back when he'd actually visited. Back before the fame had gone to his head. Before he'd decided she wasn't good enough for him. "Oh. W-why were you with Napstablook? Does it have to do with the..."

"The memories?" Mettaton cut in. He broke eye contact with Alphys for just a moment, his face uncharacteristically serious. "...Yes. I don't know where they came from or just how much of it happened, but-

"All of it." Now it was Alphys's turn to cut in. Mettaton looked at her. "Frisk, she has this power to reset... But she kinda did it t-too much? So... now the multiverse is sort of... ripping or melting apart - which is why we have these memories now."

"...What drama!" Mettaton exclaimed. "I thought it might have something to do with that human. I remember defeating her, but then I remember her defeating _me."_ He made a face. "Then, well - I remember all of the times that she... you know." Mettaton must have realized that he was still standing in the doorway because he pushed past Alphys and into the lab. "I couldn't defeat her. Not once. She'd always kill me with just one hit. _One."_

"That's why you wanted me to work on your defense for NEO?" Alphys confirmed. "But then why change forms? Why not just stay a-

"Don't you think I considered that!?" Mettaton snapped. "Darling, I thought of everything. _She'd_ already killed half the monsters in the Underground. Even if I had stayed a _box,_ she would have found some way to kill me." He paused. "... If I was going to die, I didn't want to remain a..." Alphys thought she heard him sniff a little. "You'd just finished my EX form. I was so looking forward to unveiling it to myself, to the audience... I guess I just wanted to die feeling like _myself."_

Oh.

"I-I'm sorry, Mettaton. I..."

"It's not your fault, Alphys." Mettaton sighed. "I should apologize - When I remembered my deaths, I knew that trying to beat the human would be pointless. Even if I'd stayed around and asked you to upgrade my NEO form's defense, she'd just erase everything and start all over, or keep trying to kill me until she found a way. I thought she was going to kill us all again, so I went to visit Blooky. To... make amends." He bit his lip. "While I think that upgrading my defense is certainly a good idea - in case Chara ever escapes from Asgore - that isn't the whole reason why I'm here. Certain memories have made me think about... about how awful I was to you. I came to apologize and to-

There was a loud crash from upstairs.

"What was that?" Mettaton asked. "Do you have company?"

"O-oh, n-nothing!" Alphys stammered. She felt like screaming. Of all the times in the world for Chara to make her presence known-!

Mettaton ignored her and started up the lab stairs, his metal boots clanging on the floor's surface. Alphys followed after him nervously. _This is it,_ she thought. _He's not going to want to stay around here, knowing that-!_ Alphys felt her heart stop as Mettaton froze, his eyes widening before the spectacle before him. Chara had slammed against the table so hard that Alphys's computer and several stacks of notes had fallen over, some landing on the floor and others on the surrounding table. There was a cruel grin on her face as she noticed Alphys's distress, as well as Mettaton's look of absolute shock and horror.

"Alphys..." Mettaton began. "Why is the human...?"

"I-I can explain!" Alphys pleaded. "I understand if you want to g-go, but please - hear me out!"

Mettaton frowned. "Alright. Explain."

"T-thank you." Alphys sighed. "You know how the human killed you in some t-timelines?" Mettaton didn't reply, which Alphys took as her cue to continue. "... W-well, its not as cut and dry as all that. You see, there are actually _two_ humans behind the killings - more or less - I mean, one of them's not entirely human, but-

"Get to the point!" Mettaton barked.

Alphys jumped. "S-sorry! One of them is Frisk. The other is the king and queen's daughter, Chara." Mettaton raised an eyebrow at this. "... Its a long story. Frisk got us all to the surface. Then she kind of reset and... started killing us. This woke up Chara inside of her - b-because their SOULs are fused, see - and sometimes Chara is the one who kills and other times its Frisk, who does it out of a desperation to see and hear new things. Whenever Frisk gets to the surface, Chara takes over and kills everyone... b-but Frisk regrets it and she's trying to help us out - a-and right now Chara is in control of Frisk, a-and-

Mettaton snorted. "That's all very well and good, but it doesn't explain why she's _here."_

 _"_ I was getting to that." Alphys murmured. "Asgore wants me to try and find a way to separate Chara and Frisk. That way he can have his daughter back and... Frisk can try and fix things."

"... Do you really think that'd work?"

Alphys looked up. "H-huh?"

"Frisk fixing things. Do you think she'd be able to?"

Alphys bit her lip. "I... I don't know. I'm sure there are some monsters who can forgive her for what she's done, but..."

"But you can't?"

Alphys paused. "I..." She snorted, looking Mettaton dead in the eye. "Can you?"

The question caught Mettaton off guard. He looked at Chara and then back to Alphys, shrugging. "... I don't know."

"... Are you going to stay, even knowing that she's here?"

This seemed to snap Mettaton out of it. He gave Alphys a trademark grin. "I came over here for a _reason,_ didn't I?"

Alphys felt like she was going to drown in relief. "R-really!? ...T-then I'll go write up some blueprints!" She grabbed some paper and supplies off of the desk, straightened her computer and scurried off to go draw up the plans. She didn't think she could work at that desk right now - it was hard enough to work whilst there was a sadistic child scraping at the wooden leg of the desk like it was a metaphor for your neck. She didn't think she'd survive a brash, over-confident robot standing over her shoulder and asking questions.

* * *

Mettaton scowled at Chara, who smiled back at him. He was frustrated to find that for once in his life, he didn't know quite what to say. What did one say to someone who...?

"Are you just going to stand there and gape at me you glittery tincan?"

Mettaton felt a spark of rage. " _Glittery tincan?_ Why -"

Chara chuckled. "Don't blow a fuse. You want to talk to Frisk, right? Well, lucky for _you,_ I'm getting bored. I think I'll take the side bench for a while, or at least until Alphys comes back. You have until then talk to her."

"Wait-

Chara - or Frisk - or whoever it was Mettaton was seeing in front of him, crumpled to the ground. Regaining his composure, Mettaton cleared his throat and stood tall. "Frisk...?"

The human looked small now, hunched over and her tiny hands grabbing the pavement. She coughed, rolled her shoulders and wriggled her fingers. Her eyes were shining in comparison to how they had been before, her expression soft and her mouth curled into a sad smile. "... Hi, Mettaton. You know, earlier I would have asked you to kill me, but..."

"Kill you!?" Mettaton exclaimed. "What would that...? Darling, you'd just come back, wouldn't you!?"

Frisk bit her lip. "Not exactly. Not if I didn't want to. My death would mean that the multiverse fixed itself, but... I don't know. You might forget about me in time."

"I... don't know if I'd want that or not." Mettaton chuckled half-heartedly.

Frisk chuckled to the same degree. "Neither do I." She looked up at Mettaton, frowning. "You can try and kill me if you want. My wrists are bound, there's nothing to stop you. Not Chara, or..." She looked down at the ground. "Just... even if its not really how I want to do things anymore... I want you to know that if you try and kill me now, I won't hold it against you. I want you to know that if I do die somehow, I won't come back."

Mettaton looked around the room awkwardly, clearing his throat. "I-I can't - I mean, as much as I'd _like_ to... I don't think that Dr. Alphys would approve."

Frisk smiled. "... I see."

"Darling... Why are you telling me this?" Mettaton sighed.

"I don't know." Frisk murmured. "Before, I was ready to commit suicide the moment I got the chance. I didn't really believe in myself. Then a friend... he told me that he had faith in me. He told me that he knew I could get forgiveness if I tried hard enough. I didn't really believe him at first - until the one person that I thought would never forgive me..." Her smile grew a little wider. "They forgave me." She continued. "Please... tell the other monsters that I want to make things right. Tell them I want to work with them in a way that'll make all of us happy - without actively trying to kill myself. I doubt it'll mean much to most, but please. For the few that care... It'd do me and them a favor."

"That was beautiful, darling." Mettaton gasped. "Of course I'll tell them. ... Although you're right. I don't know how much good it will do." He pursed his lips. "They... all really hate you. Who knows - with time, perhaps they'll come to forgive you. Perhaps I will too, when this is all over and we can move on. One thing is for certain though." He smirked. "Darling... you've put on quite the show."

Frisk smiled sadly once again. "... Yeah. I guess I have."

"Promise me."

"Huh?" Frisk frowned. "Promise you...?"

"Promise me you'll put on an even better one for everyone when you face me for the final time." Mettaton grinned. "Despite everything you've done, I'll never forget how happy you made everyone - including me. You made it so I got to hear every monsters' adoration and praise again and again! True, passionate speeches, spoken from the heart - their eyes tearing with sadness and their lips curled into smiles of admiration and nostalgia!" Frisk saw Mettaton's face flicker into a frown for just a second. "... While you and Chara might have killed me a lot - everyone has things that they regret."

"... You regret leaving Blooky and being so cruel to Alphys," Frisk spoke softly.

Mettaton's eyes widened. "How do you -? ... Oh. That's right." He stared off into the distance, chuckling lightly. "I remember telling you about that. The timeline where I became king, right?" His chuckles escalated into full blown laughter. "That... some of the things I did in that timeline... they were pretty ridiculous. I guess its true what they say about power going to your head." He sighed, smiling. "Truth be told... I do sort of miss it. It was fun being in charge for a while, having even _more_ of everyone's undivided attention than usual. After a while ... I couldn't ignore how much I missed the people I cared about. Alphys... Blooky, I ended up seeing even less..." He frowned. "...If I could have had the choice, I would have chosen the surface in a heartbeat. Me being king... it was just a childish distraction."

Frisk opened her mouth to reply, when she heard footsteps. "That'll be Alphys with your blueprints, I'm guessing." She murmured. At Mettaton's surprised look, her eyes sparkled with amusement. "I can still hear you guys talk, even when Chara is in possession of my body."

Mettaton looked quite alarmed. "I'm glad I didn't say anything I might regret, then."

As Alphys climbed the stairs, Frisk sighed. "I guess... this is goodbye, then. Remember to spread the message I gave you."

Mettaton clicked his tongue. "Can't you just... Try and stay in control?"

Frisk frowned. "I can already feel Chara clawing at my mind. She didn't really give over full control... just enough to let me move and speak. Of course I'll try though. Who knows... perhaps with enough DETERMINATION..."

"H-hey, Mettaton! I've drawn up some new upgrades for your NEO form! They're really c-cool, at least in my opinion - I think you're going to like them a lot!" Alphys rushed over, clutching a bunch of blueprints tightly between her claws. "Chara didn't give you any t-trouble, did she?"

"Well, I wouldn't sa-

Alphys dropped the blueprints. "Oh god - Frisk..!" Alphys screamed. Her heart skipped a beat. Frisk (Chara?) was now pulling at her restraints. Her knuckles were white, her limbs contorted at weird angles. It was as though she were twisting to escape her limbs being ripped off from different directions. Sweat matted her hair and wet her face, which had flushed a deep red. Alphys felt giddy, her entire body trembling with anxiety.

A voice rang out from Frisk's mouth - a guttural, scratchy voice that echoed off of the lab's walls. It wasn't natural. **"** **Do you really think that pathetic thing can win against me?"** Her laugh was equally corrupt. " **You're just as stupid as _she_ is!" **

"I'm so _sick_ of you hurting my friends, Chara!" A much softer, feebler voice - Frisk - choked. Alphys winced as Frisk's body twisted, cracking and crunching. "Leave me _alone!"_

 **" _But Frisk,"_** Chara's voice became shrill. " **You _wanted_ to hurt your friends! That's the whole reason I'm here now!" **

"I regretted it... I regretted it as soon as I first struck that _dummy_ back in the ruins!" Frisk gargled.

 **" _So WhY'D YoU KeEP GOinG?"_**

"Curiousity, DETERMINATION, perhaps some of your hatred made me _want_ to keep going - it doesn't matter! We've discussed all of this before! What matters is that I _never_ would have taken it _this far -_ so _get out of my SOUL!"_ Alphys felt a spark of hope as Frisk's voice gained clarity, its raspy nature lessening as she pushed Chara back further.

Just as Frisk's voice gained clarity, Chara's voice grew a little louder. **"So what? So I _die_? You're such a pacifist _,_ Frisk - surely you're not suggesting that its okay for me to die - just so all of your precious little friends can live!? You _are?_ THEN YOU'RE NO BETTER THAN ME, YOU ARROGANT WELP!" **

Another twist and crack. A rough one, too.

Frisk let out a scream of pain. She grit her teeth, panting as she wrestled for control. "Why!? Why are you so afraid of dying for others? You've done it before, so why does the idea seem so disgusting to you now!?"

Chara's voice became demonic with rage. **" _BECAUSE I'M SO SICK OF BEING ALONE! I'M SO SICK OF SACRIFICING_ EVERYTHING- _AND THEN BEING LEFT TO_ ROT! THE HUMANS, MY 'FAMILY' - _YOU, FRISK! WHY DID YOU RESET WHEN WE WERE SO, SO CLOSE TO FREEDOM_?"** Alphys could see the tears welling in Chara's eyes. " **I** **OBVIOUSLY DON'T DESERVE A HAPPY ENDING, SO WHY SHOULD ANY OF _YOU?!"_** Chara collapsed on the floor, panting. Tears were running freely down her face, staining her already red face redder. Her voice was soft, dripping with hatred and fatigue. **"For just once, can things go the way _I_ want them? You know what I'd really like right now? FOR THIS ENTIRE FUCKING WORLD TO JUST _BURN!_ _"_**

 _The loudest crack yet._

Frisk's body lay motionless for a while and, for a terrifying moment, Alphys thought Frisk - or Chara - was dead. Bit by bit, the girl regained consciousness. A finger twitched, and then a foot, and then an arm. Then, finally, her entire body heaved itself off of the ground. She was quivering as if her body's weight was made of lead, the rope binding her wrists making it even harder for her to support herself. Alphys and Mettaton stared in numb shock, still taking in everything that they had just witnessed. Of course, it was Mettaton who first spoke. "Which one are you, then? Frisk? Or...?"

"I-I'm sorry..." Chara sniffed. She looked up, her face tear stained. "I... I think I'll let Frisk take over, now."

Mettaton and Alphys exchanged a shocked look, neither of them knowing quite what to say. "Frisk, I guess... You won?" Alphys said, as the face before them softened.

The girl smiled. "I guess so."

* * *

Chara watched as Alphys undid the chain on the table that was tying her. To her dismay, Alphys refused to undo the cuffs as well - for what she said was a 'precaution'. Still, she supposed it was better than nothing.

Her plan had gone well.

 _How'd you like that acting, Frisk?_ Chara thought. _Personally, I thought I made a very convincing you. I just needed to make my eyes all soft and dewy and spew lovey dovey, guilty-concious crap - and they ate it all up! I'm shocked I didn't think of this plan earlier!_

Frisk didn't reply, but Chara could feel her fighting harder than ever before. She struggled to keep a straight face - after all, Alphys was a few metres from her. She didn't want to blow her cover.

 _You know what I'm going to do, now that they think I'm you? They_ trust _you, Frisk - and I can use that. I think I'll butter them up more - enough for them to take these cuffs off - and then I'll slaughter every last one of them, just like I did with Toriel!_

 _"You obviously know me well, Chara."_ Frisk finally replied. " _You were able to characterise how I feel about things down to a T. We must be truly bonded for you to get it so right - but what about what_ you _said? About being sick of being alone, sick of sacrificing everything? Those tears sure felt genuine. Heck, I was almost able to worm my way back into control, you were so volatile. I even got a line or two in. Oh, by the way... I meant it when I told you to get out of my SOUL."_

Chara nearly chuckled aloud in response. _Oh_ , _Frisk... Don't you know? The best actors have some truth to their performances. That doesn't change the fact that they're only_ **acting.**

Frisk ignored her. " _Why not let me get everyone to surface? Then you can_ have _your happy ending. Why are you making this so difficult for yourself?"_

 _Something would botch that up. You, probably. You're all hypocrites, cowards - despicable shit stains. What I said in that little speech still stands - none of you_ ** _deserve_** _happy endings._

Frisk paused. " _That's not how you thought when I got everyone to the surface the first time. You were so excited. You'd forgiven the humans."_

 _Yeah, and look what you did to mess that all up. When you started killing monsters, I had an epiphany, of sorts. I realised just how pointless everything was, how evil this entire world is - it's not just humans that evil, Frisk. It's everyone. Everything. I'm evil. You're evil, too._ Chara thought. _I found myself thinking about what Flowey said and I realised I agreed with him. In this world... It really_ is _kill or be killed._

 _"I'm sorry, I should never have hurt anyone. If I hadn't hurt anyone, you wouldn't be..."_ Chara could feel Frisk's anguish breaking through her thoughts. " _The world isn't kill or be killed. I showed even Flowey that that wasn't the case. Please, haven't you punished us all enough?"_

 _Never._

 _"Why? Why do you insist on punishing us all for the actions of a select few?"_

 _I've given enough second chances to the people of this wretched world. Each time, you manage to let me down._

 _"But-_

 _I'm done,_ _Frisk._

Frisk tried to get Chara to say more, to see her viewpoint - but Chara was silent. From the back of her mind she watched Alphys work on Mettaton. She screamed as loud as she could, but her best wasn't good enough.

Nobody heard a thing from _her._


	9. Chapter 9

"Is Chara still giving you any trouble?" Alphys had just finished polishing and adding the finishing touches on Mettaton's NEO form. The upgrades had significantly boosted his defense. If Chara ever came back, Alphys hoped that it would be enough to stop her. She handed the human who she thought to be Frisk a glass of water and sat down next to her.

Chara frowned, pulling the blanket Alphys had given her higher over her shoulders. "No, she's stayed relatively silent. She feels pretty weak - not strong enough to take back control for a while, thats for sure. Still, I can't help but feel like she's planning something, you know?" She shook her head, sipping at the water. She sighed as she felt the cool liquid run down her throat - she hadn't drunk anything first hand in so long, and it felt great. "She's incredibly manipulative. If I let my guard down for more than a second, or I reset, she can usually take me over easily."

"Well maybe there's a way we can make it so you're the primary controller?" Alphys suggested. "The moments where Chara takes over you are moments of vulnerability or anger, and the moments where you take over her are moments of intense DETERMINATION or m-moments where she feels vulnerable... So what if we inject you with more DETERMINATION? W-wouldn't you be able to stay in control then? I-I think I have some left..."

Chara's eyes lit up."That... might actually work!" She exclaimed. She flashed another one of her sweet and innocent smiles. "The whole reason I can reset and Chara can't is because my DETERMINATION outways hers - but not by much. The hatred and potence of her DETERMINATION just gets so overwhelming, she..." She made sure to trail off, staring at her feet and dangling one hand behind her back. "Aren't there risks, though?" She cocked her head. "I mean... even when I'm in control, what if the DETERMINATION affects Chara and not me?"

"You two are separated in s-some ways. Your actions are able to affect the opposite persons' SOUL, for one. You don't possess the same memories outside of the time frame where Chara first possessed you, either." Alphys said. "As long as we're careful, I think it's worth a s-shot... That way we can keep you in control whilst I work on a formula to rebuild Chara's SOUL."

Chara felt her innocent facade falter for just a moment. "You've... found a way to do that?" She cooed.

"N-not entirely - but I have a t-theory." Alphys began. "Chara must have latched onto you so that she could use you as a vessel to get to the surface a-and... y-you know, k-kill the humans. I know from the tapes that she hated them, and the only way she could have survived long enough to latch onto you in her shattered state would have been if she was determined to finish some... 'u-unfinished business'." Alphys continued, a little pale. "As you went through and started to make friends, a little of your love rubbed off on her SOUL. You started to rebuild her, Frisk. When you started killing, you kind of..." Alphys's face fell. "... Messed that all up. I was thinking though! If love and kindness is what Chara needs to rebuild her SOUL, then all we need to do is find the right balance between DETERMINATION, love and kindness, and we should be able to synthesise a SOUL for her! You could try and get her to feel some love again, t-too. I mean, what you were doing in the first timeline was working! If you'd kept it up, I dare say she would have eventually been e-expelled!

"What if you don't get the formula right?" Chara demanded. She heard her voice go a little too shrill, a little too angry, and shot Alphys with another sickly-sweet eyed smile. Anything to avoid suspicion.

Alphys gave 'Frisk' a funny look. "...T-that is a problem, y-yes. Too much love and kindness would make a SOUL fragile, and easy to break - like a monster SOUL. Usually this is fine, because the bodies of monsters are made up primarily of magic - but such a fragile SOUL inside of a physical body?" Alphys shook her head. "Much like a monster m-melts when injected with too much DETERMINATION, a human would do much the same if injected with too much love and kindness. Your bodies simply aren't built for the amount of love and kindness that a monster's S-SOUL is-" She gulped, tensing. "U-uh- Sorry if that sounded mean or anything! I'm sure that there are p-plenty of nice humans!"

Chara gave a fake chuckle. "Its fine, not all of us are that nice." She squinted. "So, let me get this straight - too much DETERMINATION would let m-" a jolt of panic went through her when she realised her mistake. "Would let _Chara_ take control of the timelines?" Chara already knew the answer. She was sure the real Frisk did, too. Who controlled the resets was dependant on who had the most DETERMINATION in the world. First it had been Flowey - then Frisk had come through with her superior DETERMINATION and taken control. Her own DETERMINATION being just a little behind both of them, Chara knew that with a bit of a push from Dr. Alphys, she could push Frisk down a peg.

She could have the reset ability for _herself._

Alphys frowned, seemingly oblivious to Chara's screw up. "W-well... I'm not sure, to be honest. Yes, though. I think that could happen? Too much hatred is what Chara has right now, a-anyway. All that LOVE really did a n-number on her."

"Yeah, I'll bet!" Chara exclaimed. She dropped her head, softening her voice to butter. "I don't get why she insists on hurting people," she sniffed. "Someone must have hurt her in the past, or something... and that made it hard for her to forgive. To be honest, living such a life, full of blame and devoid of love... I- I almost pity her." She quoted Frisk, feeling joy at the spark of emotion she felt from the _real_ Frisk, deep within herself.

 _What do you think of all of this, Frisk?_ Chara inwardly taunted. _Dr. Alphys is going to inject me with DETERMINATION! I feel rather bad for her - I mean, all that big talk about how she was going to 'make things right'?_ She almost cackled aloud. _What a loud of bull, right? She can't even tell the difference between you and the demon who killed her friends! Oh, wait -_ _both of those describe you anyway!_ She found she was puffing her cheeks to stop herself from laughing and turned her head from Alphys, pretending to be walking towards the fridge. Frisk said nothing, but Chara could feel her fuming. _Aw, whats the matter, Frisk?_ Chara continued. _Don't you know hatred accomplishes nothing? Or, in your case it doesn't. Because I'm never giving you back control._

 _"Shut up, Chara."_ Frisk murmured from within. Her dejected tone was just a cover, Chara knew - she could feel Frisk fighting hard. Possibly harder than ever before.

 _You're fighting real hard, Frisk._ Chara continued to inwardly coo. _Pity your best efforts aren't good enough. I've gotten a lot better at staying in control since the first time, Frisk. A lot better at taking over, too. You think I didn't notice it these past few genocide runs, your attempts at reaching out to the ones you love growing less and less? Nowadays you can really only stay in control when I let you._

Aw, now Frisk was fighting even harder. How cute.

 _When my DETERMINATION finally surpasses yours, you know what I'm going to do, Frisk? R-_

" _Reset."_ Frisk deadpanned.

 _...That's right! Neato, you get a goldstar!_ Chara let a small smile creep onto her lips as Alphys hurried over to help her get a snack out of the fridge. It was hard, when her hands were still tied. _I'm going to reset, and reset, and reset, and reset - until chaos is spread far and wide. I'll explore a little, see the carnage that I have brought upon the world - and then I'll continue to reset, until the entire multiverse is nothing but shattered little fragments - and there is no way for either of us to bring back your precious friends._

Chara didn't hear Frisk's reply over the shrillness of Alphys's voice. "O-oh dear! I-I'm so sorry about the ties, Frisk. I wish I could undo them for you, but..." She bit her lip.

"I understand, Alphys." Chara said softly. She almost rolled her eyes - this sickly sweet cover was going to drive her crazy. She could barely stand the shrill-voiced, socially inept lizard, and it took every fiber of concentration in her body not to rake the butt of her wrists across her face. "I get that you don't trust me - I mean, why would you? I hurt the people you love. Me trying to make that right won't change that fact."

 _"_ Y-yeah, Mettaton told me that you were no longer..." She paused, frowning. "You believe in yourself more. Its a feeling I u-understand well, believe me. Please don't get discouraged, its just... you started killing of your own accord a-and..."

"I know." Chara sighed. "That must make it so hard for you to trust me." She scanned her thoughts for something to say. She settled on another quote from Frisk - one of the ones that she had managed to choke out when Chara had been putting on her little 'struggle of control', actually. "But... Believe me, I regretted it the moment I hit that dummy in the ruins. I didn't intend to take it that far - it was so _stupid_ of me. I don't even know why I..."

"I-I know, we all make mistakes! I-I of all monsters know that!" Alphys stammered. She glanced at the ties on Chara's wrists, considering whether to remove them or not. The idea sent a jolt of discomfort surging through her. She decided they could stay on for now. "Can you feel Chara getting any s-stronger?"

Chara paused, considering her answer carefully. "Yes," she said. "Shes still weak from her struggle before, but soon she'll be strong enough to take over me again."

Alphys frowned. "Can you still sense evil intent from her? Surely that self reflection she did would have made her feel some love."

Chara pursed her lips, feigning concern. "Honestly? She feels angrier than ever. She's just renewed her own motives, made herself feel like her murderous actions are more justified than ever before. If we really want to make her feel some sort of love, we're going to have to go back to the root of the problem, convince her that the world isn't going to backstab her again. Convince her that people can be nice. She'd have to actually give people a chance - and there's no way she'd ever do that." Chara felt like pounding her head against a brick wall. What was this sappy bullshit? Couldn't she just _kill_ something already? "You should inject me with the DETERMINATION soon, whilst there's still time." Chara spoke quickly.

"Y-yes, o-of course!" Alphys turned towards the elevator to the second part of the lab. "I'll get the DETERMINATION right now!"

Chara managed to keep a straight face long enough to see Alphys disappear into the disguised elevator. As she heard the whir of the elevator disappearing below the surface, she just couldn't hold it back anymore. She threw her head back, roaring with laughter. It echoed off of the walls, making Chara glad that Mettaton had left shortly after Alphys finished redoing his battle form. He would have liked to stay and make sure everything was okay with Frisk, but he had had an important show to get to. "How sad - perhaps he might have been able to tell the difference between you and I, Frisk!" Chara cackled, not restraining her feelings to her thoughts. She had been holding back for so long now - it felt good to be able to be _herself_ again. "Unlike that germ Alphys, he doesn't seem like a complete _idiot!"_

She could feel an intense sadness ebbing from deep within her, one so potent it almost reached her part of the SOUL. Chara swore through gritted teeth - Frisk was fighting way too hard. If she wasn't careful, Chara feared Frisk might be able to take back control for real - and she couldn't have that. She stopped laughing, concentrating on forcing Frisk back.

It was easy, when she concentrated. All the same, Chara made a note to not let herself get her guard down. Even the smallest squeak from Frisk could ruin her entire plan, and she couldn't have that.

Not when she was _so close_ to destroying this miserable world for good.

A little while later, she heard the soft scuff of footsteps on tiles, and Chara saw Alphys coming towards her. She was holding a syringe with a thick, oddly glowing liquid in it and was holding another container in her other hand that was also softly glowing - presumably that held more of the DETERMINATION. She wrapped a sterile cloth around Chara's arm and prepped the needle, giving 'Frisk' a comforting smile. "O-okay, so I guess we're doing this... I-I have to warn you, I don't know how much its going to hurt. With monsters its different because they have nearly n-no physical matter - any pain that they'd feel is purely s-spiritual, but with you..."

Chara nodded patiently, forcing a soft smile of her own. "Yes, I understand." She held out her tied hands. "Do you think you could...? I mean... If you're trusting me enough to inject me with DETERMINATION..."

"O-oh, uh..." Alphys looked rather panicked. She stared down at the syringe in her hands in defeat. "Chara's already fighting to take you over again, right?"

Chara nodded solemnly, making a point of looking down at the ground with dewy eyes.

Alphys sighed, then reluctantly began to untie the knot on Chara's ties. "A-alright. I suppose if you want to make things right as Mettaton said, the least I can do is to trust you. Help you t-towards that goal."

Chara smiled. "Thank you, Alphys." _You moron,_ she silently added.

Chara was ecstatic. Her ties were off, she had Alphys offering to inject her with DETERMINATION - a substance that would pass her the power to reset, and what was more, nobody suspected a _thing._ All of the pieces were in place, and as Alphys grabbed the needle and put it to her arm, Chara braced herself.

* * *

Flowey had been observing the scenario for a while now. From the moment Chara had had her 'struggle', he had had suspicions. As he watched 'Frisk' throw her head back and cackle, he was certain. The person in front of him was _not_ Frisk.

He began to come out of the earth. He was moments from summoning his bullets when he froze. Something came over him - an intense panic that washed away his confidence and defensive mindset. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop thinking, remembering all of the pain, the fear and betrayal that Chara had caused each time she had smeared him into the ground. He began to tremble and ducked beneath the earth, focusing on the terror, trying to calm himself. Even if Chara _did_ kill him, she was going to reset soon... right?

This was his chance to get some revenge on her, for all of the times she had stomped him into the ground! ... So why did the thought of killing Chara make him so sick? Was it fear, sentimentality, a mixture of the two?

Flowey felt like weeping. He was so sick of all of this - what he wanted now was not world destruction, was not the occurrence of new things - all he wanted now was to _live._

Just then, he heard the sound of the lab elevator, followed by the sound of footsteps. Curiosity got the best of him and he poked his head up through the ground. _Just Alphys,_ he thought, rolling his eyes. In spite of his boredom, Flowey couldn't help the spark of intrigue that he felt - a budding idea that was quickly taking form. He didn't have to kill Chara - all he had to do was warn Alphys not to inject the formula. Terror surged through him as Alphys undid the ties on Chara's wrists. As Alphys prepped the needle and set the tip against Chara's arm, Flowey cried out. "Wait!"

Two heads whipped over to face him. Chara looked livid. Flowey could only imagine what he was in for if Chara caught him now. Gulping, Flowey tried to look at Alphys. Alphys squinted at Flowey. D-do I know you from s-somewhere? H-how'd you get in here?!"

"D-Don't inject her." Flowey stammered. "S-she... That's not Frisk!"

Alphys held Chara's arm for a few moments longer. As she began to process what Flowey was saying, she turned pale and began to shake. She stared from Flowey to Chara, and then down at the pile of rope on the ground, her eyes widening with the horror of what she had just done. "I cut the... I can't believe I a-almost..." She stared at Chara, pleading her to say something to dissuade the accusations.

With her anger, Chara's reply was forced and grainy. "Of course I'm Frisk, Alphys." She cracked her neck to the side, her bloodshot eyes twinkling. "That flower is a silly liar. I think... I think weeds like them should be _**plucked out.** " _

Knowing full well that her reply had not been convincing, Chara exercised her newly freed wrists by slamming a fist into Alphys's nose. Alphys screamed and clutched her face, the syringe clattering to the ground. Chara used the distraction to face Flowey, all thoughts of the DETERMINATION gone and replaced with ones of revenge. She approached the trembling flower, her eyes wild and crazy and her lips pursed into a forced, twitching grin. She walked slowly, savoring the terror that was etched onto the flower's face. "If you thought me stomping you was bad," Chara began. "... Well, just you wait until I get my hands on you _now_. I'm going to take it _real_ slow, pull each of your petals off, one by one. Then I'll do the same to your leaves. Finally, I think I'll peel your stem in half and leave you to die in a dark, dry hole somewhere."

Her crazed laughter reverberated off the laboratory walls, causing sinister mockeries of her voice to linger in the air.

Flowey was mortified. Terror fueling a last resort, he weakly summoned a circle of bullets, entrapping Chara within them. They looked so pathetic next to her quivering, hate-filled shape, but he had to try. "T-there!" He said, feigning matter-of-factness. "I-if you take one more step forward, these bullets will -

Chara took a step, not even blinking as the bullets exploded on her skin.

Flowey urgently slammed the rest of the bullets into Chara. Each one did little to nothing. "T-they will..."

Chara grabbed Flowey, plucking him out of the ground in one swipe. With that swipe, Chara plucked out the last of Flowey's hope. She traced a finger over one yellow petal, sneering before beginning to pull, her grin growing wider at the agonized expression on Flowey's face. Flowey felt sick. He knew that they were both soulless, but even then, how could Chara bring herself to so easily torture him like this? How could she _enjoy_ it? Had their time as siblings meant nothing to-?

In the back of his vision, he saw the flash of yellow that was Alphys dive for the forgotten syringe.

Unfortunately, so did Chara.

Chara cursed, throwing Flowey carelessly to the ground like a child would a toy. In her temper tantrum, she had completely forgotten about the syringe. How could she have been so _stupid_? After falling to the ground, the syringe had rolled beneath a paper-scattered table. Alphys was bent down, straining to reach the boldly glowing object - but the syringe was an inch too far away, and her arms an inch too short. Chara took the chance to shove Alphys out of way and grab the syringe for herself, her maniacal laughter peaking.

It was short lived.

Chara felt the hand holding the syringe begin to shake against her will. Her fingers unfurled, allowing the syringe to slip out into the waiting hands of Alphys below. For a moment, Chara was confused. Then, she realised what was happening.

 ** _Frisk?!_** She mentally screamed. She took a deep breath. _...Clever. You realised that you couldn't control the entire body, and so you focused your energy onto one part. Well, don't go making it a habit! It probably wears you out awfully._ Chara smirked. It was like a game! Whoever won got to keep the syringe. Whoever lost died either a figurative or, in the case of Alphys, _literal_ death.

Chara felt she could win this game.

Chara chased after Alphys, who was running to dispose of the syringe. She had considered smashing it on the lab floor, but she knew that Chara was likely to do anything to get that DETERMINATION - even if it meant ingesting it. She never had been a fan of cleaning, either.

Chara tackled Alphys to the ground, the weight of her SOUL's hatred knocking the wind out of the dinosaur. Alphys tried to hold the syringe just out of reach, high above her head, but Frisk's body had longer arms. Chara seized the syringe from Alphys after some fighting, sneering at a defeated looking Alphys lying on the floor. At the back of her mind, Chara wondered what had become of Flowey. "Finally!" Chara rolled her eyes, re-prepping the needle. "That was all much more hassle than it had to be. You could have just injected me, Alphys. Would have spared you and me _both_ some grief." She pouted her bottom lip, pretending to tear up. "I mean... I might have just killed my adopted brother! How do you think I feel?"

Alphys shook her head. "I don't think you feel anything." A strange, indignant look crossed her face. "I'm glad I stalled you, anyway."

"Yeah? Why's that?" Chara grinned. She wasn't worried.

The door to the lab erupted open to a flash of glitter and white light. Posing there, confident as ever, stood Mettaton NEO, flaunting his new cannons for all to see. "Why, so she had time to contact me of course, darling." Mettaton said. "You see, whilst you were busy doing Asgore knows what, _Alphys_ was giving me a ring."

Chara spluttered, her grip on the needle tightening. "B-but-! How is that possible? I didn't hear her call you!"

Mettaton smirked. "Ahh - yes, that. When Alphys was fixing me up, we devised a code of sorts - for this exact situation. She was to call me and hang up three times in a row without saying a word - phone on mute, of course. The second I got the calls, I rushed over as fast as I could."

A funny look clouded Chara's eyes. She seemed not quite there anymore. Take for an undertone of silent rage to the look, it was hard to tell she was feeling anything at all. Little by little, a smile crept onto her face. "No matter," she said, her voice silky. "I still have the DETERMINATION, after all." With a final cackle, she stabbed the needle into the side of her arm. The syringe emptied rapidly, a blue net-pattern of veins beginning to glow and spread from where she had injected the formula. At the same time, the cannon on Mettaton's arm finished charging.

As the DETERMINATION flashed and spread visibly through Chara's entire being, a huge ball of white energy struck her. The whole world stopped, waiting to see if it was too late.

* * *

 **AN: Sorry for the delay! This one took a while to get out. I've been really busy with assignments and homework, not to mention how tired I've been lately. I'm glad to have stopped procrastinating and to get this chapter finished!**


	10. Chapter 10

Light.

 _"It sounds like it came from over here... Huh, when did those flowers get there?"_

Harsh, golden light that stung her eyes. Through the light... a voice?

Chara waited for her head to stop throbbing. Bit by bit, as her adrenaline faded away, her memories began to return. What had just happened? She didn't quite know herself. Ah - that was right. She had injected herself with the determination, hadn't she? Mettaton had hit her. She had died.

A small grin pushed at the sides of her mouth.

Not before she had gained the power to reset, though.

She had reset once, back to her original save point. She had reset a second time, back to the beginning of the game.

Now...

Now she lay on the familiar bed of golden flowers, staring up at the light shining down above her. If she could only reach the source of that light from where she lay, wipe out every last insignificant person, creature and thing that existed up there.

She supposed it didn't matter. Soon enough, she'd destroy everything.

So... why had she stopped resetting? That had been her plan, hadn't it? To gain the power to reset and to reset until there was nothing left to reset? She could sense it lingering in the air now, the tension, the dread, the feeling that something was off. It made Chara tremble with excitement. She knew that Frisk could feel it too. She could feel the fear resonating from deep inside her SOUL.

 _"You know whats coming, don't you, Frisk?"_ Chara thought. _"Mettaton failed to stop me. You all failed to stop me. The combined efforts of you all - Alphys, Flowey, you - you all failed. Its over."_

Silence.

 _"I know you can feel it too. How wrong the air the feels. The chills down our spine. That's Armageddon, Frisk. Don't you just love it? ... You're being awfully silent."_

Chara knew what Frisk was trying to do. She was hiding, burying herself deep inside of their SOUL - out of sadness, or anger, or an attempt to calm herself. Probably a mixture of them all. " _I've got to applaud you again - that was a clever move back there. Isolating all of your concentration into my hand to make me drop the syringe. Same with Alphys and her little telephone code. Shouldn't blame yourselves for it not succeeding - you were never going to stop me from the start. Even Mettaton showing up - all that was just a minor inconvenience. I mean, when he killed me, I had to reset! Now we don't get to see what damage that reset caused! We can see what two resets in a row has done, though."_

Frisk remained silent, but Chara felt her fear and anger spike. Her small grin grew wider.

"U-um, are you okay? You're smiling kind of oddly..."

Chara's grin vanished. She felt her hands begin to tremble.

That voice.

Him.

How was he here?

He _couldn't_ be here!

"Oh! You've fallen down, haven't you...?"

Chara's eyes widened.

"Are you o-"

"Don't fucking ask that." Chara spat. She finally sat up among the flowers and lowered her gaze. Her eyes locked with the one in front of her, his confused and somewhat hurt and her own brimming with rage and uncertainty. This wasn't meant to happen. He was the _last_ person she wanted to see.

"I-I was just..." His long ears flattened in sadness. "Here, let me help you up-" he took a step and held out a paw.

Chara shoved it away, leaping to her feet and flinching back. "Get away from me!" She could feel herself on the verge of hyperventilating. She shut her eyes, hoping that when she opened them he'd be gone. She didn't want him here. She wanted the flower.

Why the fuck was Asriel here in that weed's place?

N-no, it was okay. All she had to do was reset again, right? This had to have been caused by the splitting timelines. Flowey had reverted back to Asriel, an Asriel who didn't know her. Asriel was greeting her in the flowerbed instead of Flowey. Once she reset, Asriel would be gone. This illusion, this ghost, this bad memory would be gone. Filled with rage and a burning desire to just be rid of this world and the rotten memories it had ignited within her, she took a deep breath, looking forward to the destruction and peace it would bring.

She 'reset'.

She blinked.

She was still here.

Asriel was still in front of her.

The reset hadn't worked.

Why hadn't it worked?

Why was Asriel still here?

She had injected the DETERMINATION, hadn't she?

She was the one with the most DETERMINATION in the world, wasn't she?

Why?

Why the fuck wasn't it working!?

Chara threw back her head and started to laugh. Asriel took a few steps back, frightened by the manic display in front of him. This laughter wasn't like her normal laughter. It was devoid of malice or ill-intent. It was the laugh that a person on death row might give out in the moments before their death. It was a laugh of bitterness, of pure panic and terror, of catharsis and impending doom. The laughter of someone who was completely trapped.

It was terrifying yet utterly pitiful.

Asriel froze, watching her from a few meters away. He watched her with wide, dewy eyes, ready to turn and sprint away at even the most sudden of moves. "U-um..." He stammered as Chara's laughter began to die down. "Y-you're a human, right?"

The last of Chara's laughter evaporated into thin air and her eyes flew open with rage. Her words were like venom. "Don't you dare compare me to those pathetic, apathetic worms."

Asriel shrunk back. "T-then... what are you, exactly? Are you a monster? ... But why are you all the way up here?"

Chara paused. Asriel really had no memory of her, did he? Then, why was that? All of the monsters had memories of all of the timelines. That included Flowey. Yet, Asriel... He truly was a paradox. It was as though a bubble of time had surrounded Flowey, gone back many years and completely ignored the concept of multiple universes, or the splitting of the multiverse itself. It couldn't be stable though, could it? This, Asriel - it had to be something temporary. A glitch. As it was, she felt nothing but annoyance for this echo of her brother - after all, it wasn't like he was real. No, the _real_ Asriel was a flower. A soulless pest that had done things as bad as her. The idea flashed in her mind for a second that in this world, concepts like 'real' or 'fake' couldn't truly exist - a thought she disregarded immediately.

Besides, even if this Asriel had no memory of doing so, Asriel had betrayed her. He'd betrayed the plans they had made. The plan had been for her to kill herself. The plan had been for Asriel to absorb her soul and for them to then go through the barrier together. The plan had been for them to get more human SOULs. To break the barrier. To free everyone. For them to kill the evil humans.

Monsters were so cowardly.

They were cowardly and selfish and evil. They were morally up themselves, thinking that they were 'kind' and more 'compassionate' than the humans.

What a load of shit.

"I'm not a monster." Chara stated.

Asriel frowned. "Then... what are you? If you're not a human and you're not a monster, you're-"

"Call me whatever you want. I don't know quite what I am, either. Call me a demon. Call me an angel." A small smile spread across Chara's face. A mask to hide the seething hatred.

"U-uh..." Asriel's eyes darted wildly. "D-don't you just have a name I could call you by, or something?"

Chara screamed internally. God, she wished Asriel would leave her alone. She wished he would disappear. She wished he would die. She'd forgotten how persistent he could be. Her eyes narrowed and the ice in her eyes must have stabbed Asriel's heart, because he flinched back. "Not for you, I don't."

"O-okay..." Asriel forced an irritatingly sweet smile. "I'll just call you Stripey. Fitting nickname, don't you think? It matches your shirt."

Chara glared at Asriel. "You're talking like you're going to know me long enough to call me that lame name."

"W-what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"It means get the hell away from me before I rip you open and tear your guts out, you traitor!" Chara spat. She knew this Asriel had no idea of what she was talking about but still, It felt good to say. Killing Flowey had been one thing but Flowey wasn't Asriel. He was Flowey. Him having Asriel's memories didn't mean a thing.

"T-traitor?" Asriel squeaked. "D-do I know you?"

"No." Chara grumbled. "I know you, though."

Asriel looked like he was on the brink of tears. "U-um... I don't see how that's possible. If I don't know you though... t-then, that means I have no memory of whatever it is I might have done to betray you, right? S-so... doesn't that mean it didn't happen?"

"Just because its not remembered doesn't mean it didn't happen!" Chara howled, her throat sore from the loudness of her voice. "Only a selfish, entitled coward would think that way!"

Asriel flattened his ears and stared down at the ground. "Y-you're right. I'm sorry. ... For whatever it is I did to you, that is. Can you at least _tell_ me what it is I did? So I can make proper amends?"

Chara paused, a lump in her throat. "It would only confuse you further," she murmured. Even if she had wanted to tell him, she had no idea of how to.

Chara wondered what she would have done if this was a normal reset. If Frisk had reset and it had been Asriel there and not Flowey. She thought she might have gone along with what he said, pretended to be oblivious to who he was, just to see how things played out. To see his reactions and to entertain herself. She knew Frisk would, too. This was anything _but_ an ordinary reset.

Remembering that she could no longer reset, Chara felt nauseous.

Still, perhaps she could settle with this. If she could no longer reset, even though she could no longer destroy the multiverse, perhaps she could still kill everyone here and be content knowing that Frisk couldn't bring it back? That seemed like a good idea to her.

 _Wait, Chara._

Chara's eyes widened. Frisk was saying something? _"You haven't said something this whole time. What could you possibly want from me now?"_ Chara thought in response.

 _You're not thinking this through._

Chara frowned. What could Frisk possibly mean? It seemed like a fool proof plan to her.

 _Think. The person with the most DETERMINATION gets the resetting power, right? You can't reset anymore._

 _"What does that have to do with any-"_ Chara paused. Realization began to sink in. Dread did, too. " _You mean... if I can't reset..."_

 _That's right. Who can?_

Chara's mind went into a frenzy, thinking things through. Even if she destroyed the world, would whoever had the power still reset? Given how things were, they must have known what was going to happen if they did. Still, what if they didn't? What if they did and they still reset? What if they destroyed the world? Frisk and her - they would cease to exist along with the world. Only the anomaly would exist. Frisk and her - they were no longer the anomaly. Their deaths wouldn't affect anything, as long as whoever could reset still had the power to reset.

If Chara didn't want to die, the only option was to find whoever the anomaly was and to kill them, to make them _stay_ dead. The only option was to make them stay dead without dying herself.

The problem was, this wasn't like a battle with Sans. It wasn't about who would give up first. Whoever the anomaly was had maybe one, two tops resets left before the world and with it, Frisk and her ceased to exist. When they killed the anomaly, they had to be absolutely certain that it was going to stay dead.

Chara went pale.

That meant talking to them, didn't it?

That meant _her_ talking to them, didn't it?

Chara would have been lying if she said that she wasn't kind of relieved.

Finally, an excuse to not speak to Asriel.

She was getting tired, anyway.

* * *

When Frisk tried to clench her fists and she felt the fingers on her hands curl, she felt herself disconnect. Was she conscious? Could she move? She realized that she had forgotten the need to breath in her time trapped within herself and took a deep breath.

She'd never been so happy to inhale in her life.

Was that it, then? Had Chara finally given her back control for good, or was this just some prank? Was she really in control? Perhaps it was only her breathing she had control over? That sort of move seemed incredibly risky to Frisk, who knew without a doubt that the movements she was making right now were her own. She relished every movement she made, glad that her consciousness had a body to accompany it once again.

"God, that was awful," Frisk said. Her eyes widened when she realized that she hadn't meant to say that out loud and she took a moment to separate her thoughts from her speech. It had been a while since the two weren't interchangeable.

"What was awful? Are you still talking about whatever I did to betray you?" Asriel asked cautiously. Frisk smiled warmly at him - a gesture that only encouraged the confusion on Asriel's face. Frisk knew the only reason Asriel was still there was morbid curiosity - a feeling she knew all too well. "I think I should explain all of this to you later. There's a lot of backstory there."

"L-later?"

"I think you should come with me." Frisk said. Asriel was the first one she'd met in this world who she knew she could trust. After all, chances were that beyond this room, the world was in chaos. She was frightened, more than anything. Still, would Asriel even survive if he left this room? Perhaps it was only here that he could exist.

 _How long are you going to keep toying with monsters' lives to satisfy your curiosity, Frisk?_ Chara sneered from inside.

Frisk made a face when she heard the voice. _"I guess you being quiet_ and _giving me back control was too much to ask, huh?"_ Frisk shot back. " _Let me tell you - now that I've got it back, I'm not going to give it up easily."_

 _That's fine by me,_ Chara said. Frisk's eyes widened. That was the last thing she'd been expecting Chara to say. _I feel like you're the only one that can save my life in this situation, so I'm okay to wait for a little while if it means I don't die._

Frisk sighed. She'd gathered Chara's plan from her thoughts. She agreed that getting whoever the anomaly was to die and stay dead was really the only way to go. She really didn't want to hurt anyone else - but the multiverse wasn't going to fix itself until all of the anomalies were gone. This new anomaly, then Chara, then her and finally, Flowey. She supposed Flowey would gain the power to reset again once she was dead and then, just like what was true with her and Chara, the only way to undo the damage caused by the resets was to kill them or likewise.

"There's something different about you. You... you're not Stripey, are you?" Frisk refocused her attention on Asriel when she heard his voice. "You look the same but... no, you're definitely different. Who are you?" Asriel asked.

Frisk was glad to see that he seemed a little less frightened of her now that she didn't have a creepy smile pasted across her face. She gladly answered his question. "My name is Frisk."

"Howdy, Frisk! My name is-

"Asriel Dreemurr." Frisk nodded. "I know."

Asriel's face fell. "How do you both know who I am...? Was that other you telling the truth? Did I really do something bad...?"

Frisk paused. She'd heard the backstory and watched the VHS tapes enough times to piece together what the history between Chara and Asriel was. "Honestly, I don't think so. You just couldn't bring yourself to hurt anyone, or to let someone you loved hurt anyone. So, even though you'd promised her you would, when the time came to actually carry through with that promise, you sacrificed yourself rather than-

"Sacrificed myself!?" Asriel yelped. "I'm right here, aren't I? I don't get this! I don't get any of this!"

"That's..." Frisk hung her head. "That's complicated. I promise I'll explain it to you if you come with me, though."

Asriel puffed out his chest. _Look at that. A kid trying to look tough,_ Frisk thought to herself - and then chortled when she realized the unintentional pun she had made. "Come with you?" Asriel said indignantly. "No way! You should come with _me._ You're the one who fell down here, right? You have no way of getting back up to the surface, do you? You need food and first aid and... and... Well, my mum and dad can take care of that!"

A pang of sadness went through Frisk as she remembered Toriel and how the last reset had gone.

Would Toriel remember what she had done, she wondered?

"Ok, ok." Frisk chuckled. "I'll follow your lead, sound good?"

"Yes!" Asriel humphed, pouting and crossing his arms.

Much to Frisk's unending relief, Asriel didn't vanish the second they set foot into the main part of the ruins.

Still, whatever was to come, Frisk was not looking forward to it.


End file.
